Invertebrates Consuming 1080 Poison Baits In New Zealand Forests

A citizen scientist and Kiwi bushman has shared photos documenting dozens of invertebrates eating 1080 poison baits in a number of poisoned forests around the Wellington region. Spiders, weta, slugs, flatworms, beetles, bees and other insects can be clearly seen eating, or lying dead next to the highly toxic baits.

As a bit of a nature-loving citizen scientist myself and having studied the impacts of poisons that bioaccumulate and cause secondary poisoning, I found these images extremely disturbing. I think it’s only right they be shared as widely as possible, as we all need to know the real impacts these toxins are having in our forests. The photo essay can be found on the Flora and Fauna website, and linked at the end of this article, I encourage everyone to share it far and wide.

Invertebrates are the creepy crawlies of the forest that often come out at night to feed and be active. They carry out essential ecosystem services including the breakdown of leaf litter and dead animals, habitat and soil creation, and they're also a primary food source for other species. Their role in our forests and wider environment can’t be understated, and surprisingly, in Aotearoa New Zealand we haven’t even discovered half of them yet!

Landcare Research reports that we have a “distinctive and diverse land invertebrate fauna, with 22,000 arthropod species described and at least that number again awaiting discovery.”

That’s a whopping 22,000 potentially undiscovered species! And, apparently around 80% of those are likely to be endemic to New Zealand, meaning they are not found anywhere else in the world. That’s pretty significant and a cause for major concern, as it means we could be causing species to become extinct through poisoning, before we have even discovered them.

It’s well known that insect populations are rapidly declining globally, largely due to habitat loss and pesticide use. “New Zealand has an estimated 1,400 native species of slugs and snails – many of them endangered.” according to the Te Ara website.

What many people might not realise is that these tiny creatures are a critical part of the food chain on which all else rests. They’re food for most of our native birds, reptiles, amphibians and aquatic species. That means our treasured kiwi, piwakawaka, ruru, bats, tuatara, geckos, frogs, fish, eels and many more.

The collapse of the insect kingdom would be catastrophic not only for all these native species, but for literally all life on earth.

One of the only major studies into the fate of invertebrates when poisoned with 1080 was done by Peter Notman in 1989 - that’s 36 years ago! Notman stated that:

“The impact of 1080 on invertebrates is likely to be far-reaching, considering both the wide range of invertebrates reported as being susceptible to 1080 and the variety of microhabitats in which 1080 is available to insects. Invertebrates that eat the baits are likely to be poisoned, leaf feeders are vulnerable to translocated 1080, root feeders are at risk from poison adsorbed on roots, and soil-dwelling organisms might be poisoned from leached residues”.

He also notes that in 1080 poison operations “extermination is seldom achieved and repeated applications (of 1080) are necessary. The dilemma of using 1080 for animal control is that a large variety of non-target animals is prone to secondary poisoning.”

According to OSPRI (formerly the Animal Health Board) an organisation that partners with the government in carrying out dozens of aerial 1080 poisoning operations each year, “More than 180 different invertebrate groups have been found feeding on baits…”

“Invertebrates that have fed on pellets represent a potential source of secondary exposure to insectivores (animals that eat insects). Similarly invertebrates that scavenge the carcasses of poisoned animals may also acquire residues.”

OSPRI also states in their Pest Control and Invertebrates factsheet, “To date, there have been no field-based evaluations of the potential risk presented to insectivores by 1080 in this context.”

The New Zealand Environmental Protection Authority (EPA, formerly ERMA) says: “Due to the level of uncertainty in the (1080) toxicity data for invertebrates, and the lack of information on amounts of bait likely to be eaten, the Agency has not attempted to assess direct exposure to invertebrates.”

Perhaps, the impact on invertebrates and the secondary poisoning that ensues is an inconvenient truth that some would rather sweep under the carpet and ignore?

To bring the extent of the poisoning into context, according to the EPA’s Annual Report for 2022 on 1080, OSPRI and The Department of Conservation conducted a total of 55 poison drops, covering 682,205 hectares of land, that’s in 2022 alone. The EPA’s report states a total of 2,395 kilograms of actual sodium mono-fluoroacetate 1080 was dropped on New Zealand forests, waterways and other landscapes in one year.

The result; an unknown number of target species were killed, and an unknown number of non-target native wildlife and invertebrates also perished or were maimed in every poison drop, through direct and secondary poisoning. This has been happening in our country, year upon year, since the 1950s. And, none of that includes the 1080 poison that is put into bait stations around the country, which is still accessible to invertebrates.

Whilst in pursuit of introduced species, i.e. possums, rats, stoats, etc. somehow we are willing to also kill our native taonga species, the ones we are trying to protect in the first place. And not just kill them, but poison their food sources too.

There’s no doubt we need some level of protection for our vulnerable species, but this is all rather Orwellian.

Could it be that ideology has got the better of us and blinded us to the damage we are causing in the process? Have we become so fixated on the goal to be “predator free” that we have forgotten what is right, and what is good for the whole ecosystem?

What we need most, right now in this moment, is for the next generation of entomologists, ecologists and conservationists to take off the blinkers of their predecessors. We need them to study the facts without the stranglehold of industry and government greenwashing.

What we also need is for more citizen scientists to be documenting what’s happening in our forests, to start asking the hard questions, sharing information and demanding change.

If we truly care about our environment, wildlife and the future of this planet, we must have honest discussions about the very real harm caused by chain poisons like 1080 and brodifacoum. And we must bring this terrible toxic experiment to an end, our taonga species, including all the creepy crawlies, are depending on it.

Photo Essay: 1080 Impact on Invertebrates: https://peoplesinquiry2020.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/1080-impacts-on-invertebrates-7.pdf

References:

Notman Study Quotes - 1080 Science, Dr. J.C. Pollard A Scientific Evaluation of the Parliamentary Commissioners for the Environment view of 1080

1080 Science Website

ERMA Documents Appendix F: Monitoring effects on target and non-target species following aerial 1080 operations

NZ EPA: Appendix N: Exposure and Risk Assessment (1080): Non-Target Species

NZ EPA: Annual Report on 1080 2022

OSPRI: Pest Control and Invertebrates

Te Ara - the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand: Paddy Ryan, 'Snails and slugs'

Landcare Research: Invertebrates, Fungi and Bacteria

Author: Asha Andersen, is a Trustee of Flora and Fauna of Aotearoa, she lives in the Far North nestled within native forest and abundant wildlife. She shares her concerns on the use of poisons known to spread throughout the food chain.

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