Ban1080 Party Press Release

Rock Wren Exterminated From Kahurangi National Park

DoC today confirmed that none of the 26 monitored rock wren in Kahurangi National Park have been seen again since the recent aerial 1080 poison operation.

DoC’s Mike Slater says because no corpses have been found more work is required to find out what has happened and suggests “It’s not clear whether we have lost birds to heavy snow that fell after the operation, 1080 or predator attack.”

Rock wren have adapted and evolved to NZ’s alpine environment over the millennia, so to blame their loss on snow fall would appear fanciful, and the predators were supposed to have been killed by the 1080.

DoC’s own publication in Nov 2013 “Principles Based Decision Tree” urged conservation planners to pause for reflection if a Nationally Endangered bird species is found at a site, and no previous studies are available for assessing the by-kill risk.

In failing to pause for reflection, Mike Slater’s DoC staff appear to have now established a 100% by-kill risk to the endangered rock wren from aerial 1080 operations.

ENDS

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