Love Dogs ~ Ban 1080

Opponents of 1080 poison will be at the High Court today to clear up the sort of confusion shown on 7-Days last Halloween, where the third most scariest costume was depicted as a ‘1080 protestor’ in a bush shirt holding a bag of green pellets and a can of baby milk powder, suggesting that the 1080 blackmailer was one of this much maligned group of kiwis John Key dubbed as 'eco-terrorists’.

Nothing could be further from the truth as it turns out the miserable maggot that threatened the most vulnerable members of society with this heinous act is in fact a South Auckland businessman, about 60 years old, who was developing an alternative poison to 1080 and, according to initial reports, was motivated by 'financial gain’.

At the same time the Guardians of the Forest or Te Whare o the Kaitiaki Ngahere on the West Coast, launched a Givealittle page in November 2015 to raise $25,000 needed to pursue 400 breaches of consents by DOC, the Animal Health Board and West Coast Regional Council through the courts after filing affidavits from 23 witnesses in May 2012.

To aid the cause, a local community group has been holding ‘Cake Stalls’ in Browns Bay, hoping to raise several hundred dollars before 29th February, believing, as the US EPA does, that aerial drops of 1080 should be banned being too hazardous for human health and the environment.

Spokesperson for the group, Tricia Cheel, was one of the first people the police visited after the blackmail threat was made public, presumably under suspicion because she stood for the Ban 1080 Party in East Coast Bays in the last election, and she is disappointed that the police have not seen fit to investigate the vandalising of signs on her fence whilst she was manning such a stall on Valentine’s Day, presumably by supporters of Doc, Auckland Council’s Biosecurity or even the local wing of Forest & Bird, following the previous police logic.

Supporters of 1080 have become increasingly aggressive and intimidating at the stalls, and in a symbolic attempt to protect her identity and avoid further hate crimes Ms Cheel will be wearing a mask and offering samples of ‘Love Dogs ~ Ban 1080’ shortbread to all who donate to the West Coast court action.

‘It’s great to see the courts prosecuting the 1080 blackmailer after threatening to poison baby milk powder; but ironic that we, the public, have to pass the hat around to bring to account some of those others that are endangering those same babies by raining 1080 poison from the sky over 700,000 hectares of the country, directly, and indirectly, into the water supply that is the other component of this same baby formula’, says Ms Cheel.

ENDS

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