The Department of Conservation is attributing the reduction of rat numbers in the Mokaihaha Ecological Area, southwest of Rotorua, to a three-tonne 1080 aerial drop.
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Native birds are thriving in Auckland's Hunua Ranges following a 1080 drop that has decimated the rat and possum population, Auckland Council says.
The aerial application of 1080 across 22,000 hectares of forest in late 2018 was conducted by the council in partnership with the Department of Conservation. The question, just how much collateral damage does 1080 poison do, could soon be answered through a peer-reviewed study commissioned by the Marlborough branch of the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association.
The SPCA has changed its stance on the use of 1080, only a month after it called for a ban on the pest-control poison.
Last month, the charity said it was "deeply concerned" over the use of 1080, and the use of poisons to kill animals due to the level of suffering they caused. It all started in 1994, with Rod and Rachel.
Now, almost 25 years later, the two kōkako share their Hunua Ranges home with 105 other breeding pairs. The University of Auckland's Dr Cate Macinnis-Ng makes a case for why we can't leave our vulnerable native species to fend for themselves in forests where predators roam.
For more than 30 years Project Crimson has led efforts to save New Zealand's pōhutukawa and rātā trees, which were on the point of extinction in the 1980s.
Now, the organisation is supporting the use of 1080 to control the introduced animal pests that it says are wreaking havoc on the country's unique biodiversity. A Taranaki conservation group will use the 1080 poison to kickstart a widespread, year-long pest destruction programme on Egmont National Park.
Taranaki Mounga plans a two stage "remove and defend" assault using the toxin beginning in March. The first western Fiordland 1080 project will start mid-next year in the hope of bringing the stoat-ridden area's kiwi back from the brink.
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