1080 Poison Deer Repellent not Effective - Farmers

Four deer have been found dead within a farmer's bush block, after an aerial 1080 poison drop applied with deer repellent. The drop was part of a 30,000 hectare drop across the Northern Pureora Forest Park.

After a stag was found dead on a Waitomo farmer's property, two neighboring farmers invited Clyde and Steve Graf to "come out and take a look around".

Eight hours of farm-bush boundary searching resulted in the carcasses of four deer (A fawn, a yearling, a hind, a stag), one baby goat, three blackbirds, two pigs, seven possums and two rats being located (All deer are GPS’d). “What’s surprising is - that the deer still ate the repellent-applied poisoned baits, despite there being ample feed on the farm boundary”, said Steve Graf.

EDR (Epro Deer Repellent) is sometimes used in areas where land owners object to deer being poisoned on or near their properties. DoC and TBFree also use the repellent at times while trying to appease hunters. Some farmers and land owners are required to pay an extra fee to have the application of the repellent included. “There now could be an argument for any person or group that has paid to have deer repellent included on any drop through the years, to request a refund”, said Clyde Graf.

Epro and Landcare Research conducted research for the Animal Health Board to identify a deer repellent for application on 1080 baits (carrots and cereal). The work was conducted between 2001 & 2007 … “Only one repellent (called EDR) was considered to repel deer sufficiently to justify further investigation (Forsyth 2002). Further investigation of EDR was funded by the AHB.”

Some evidence suggests that pigs are more susceptible to 1080 baits applied with EDR, than the non-repellent baits. It has been stated that this is because of the blood-type solution that is applied. Other species are not out-of-the-woods either, says Clyde Graf “In-the-field trials conducted on the repellent resulted in tomtits, moreporks and blackbirds being found dead. 1080 poison disrupts ecosystems, is toxic to all air-breathing animals, including insects, and is persistent in the environment - whether it is applied with repellent or not”.. Scientists have estimated that well over 10,000 deer are poisoned every year in New Zealand. Dr Charles Eason quoted research in one of his papers that around 40% of deer populations are killed where cereal baits are used, and about 90% when carrots were used.

The video clip about the incident will be available to view at www.youtube.com/thegrafboys

ends

© Scoop Media