Environmentalist, journalist and author, Dave Hansford was recently awarded a Queen's Service Medal for services to the environment. His recent book, Protecting Paradise, examines the debates surrounding the use of 1080 in New Zealand, and makes the case for urgent intervention to rescue dwindling native wildlife.
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Laura Keown sat down with him at Forest & Bird's national office in Wellington to chat about why some people fear 1080, and how a shared vision for the future of New Zealand's biodiversity can bring people together.

A bird-lover is concerned about the welfare of wildlife after a number of seagulls were found dead on a South Canterbury beach.
The Department of Conservation says it will not take action against whoever was responsible for culling the birds which are suspected to have ingested poisoned wheat.
Zena Guthrie, of South Canterbury Bird Rescue, said she was contacted by a member of the public who spotted several dead gulls on the beach at Jack's Point, just south of Timaru, on Friday.

Kiwi, kakapo, Maui dolphin - and even the great White shark-feature on a list of 150 New Zealand species "prioritised" in an ambitious conservation strategy launched by the government this morning.
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The Department of Conservation's new Threatened Species Strategy hinges greatly on already-announced moves under the Predator Free New Zealand (PFNZ) plan to purge the country of pest predators by 2050.

Parliamentary Commissioner for the environment Dr Jan Wright's new report, Taonga of an Island Nation: Saving New Zealand's Birds, released last week, highlighted the "tragic" state of many native birds.

And the picture was no more encouraging in Northland, according to Northland conservation advocate for Forest & Bird, Dean Baigent-Mercer.
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"A regional priority needs to be turning around the state of the collapsing native forests across the North, including the aerial use of 1080, expanding pest control along coastlines, including dog control on beaches, and resuscitating wetlands," he said.