The anti-1080 lobby last week released ‘lab tests’ purporting to find the poison in the vermin that washed up in Westport. But do their claims stand up to scrutiny. Dave Hansford investigates the claims and the evidence put forward.

Read it here on the Spinoff: https://thespinoff.co.nz/science/30-11-2019/the-great-westport-rat-mystery/

Results released over the weekend of independent testing of some of the carcasses found in Westport have done little to solve the mystery of what killed over 600 rats

​A report has emerged from an unnamed lab that claims to have detected 1080 in the dead rats collected on the West Coast.

​The NZ Deerstalkers Association (NZDA) has made incorrect and misleading claims on aerial possum control operations, claims OSPRI.

Funding new high tech traps will reduce the need for 1080 poison, says New Zealand First.
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On Thursday, Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced $3.5 million has been invested in developing five new trapping devices.​

​ Toxicology shows no presence of 1080 in dead rats that washed up along with other animals on North Beach near Westport this month.

The case is building for the government to take a serious look at the role genetic technologies could play in New Zealand - even replacing the controversial use of 1080. ​

​The fight to kill pests and save many of New Zealand's most iconic species relies, in many cases, on the use of 1080 poison. Kerrie Waterworth reports on efforts to save the dwindling populations of Fiordland kiwi and the Department of Conservation's most remote and ambitious aerial mainland 1080 poison bait drop so far.

An aerial 1080 operation in Egmont National Park took a big toll on rat and possum numbers, results from monitoring stations shown.
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But the June operation, carried out by the Department of Conservation, also caused the death of one of the 20 rare whio which are monitored in the National Park.

A private conservation block in the Coromandel is teeming with life thanks to four generations of one family.
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Almost 100 years of care has secured a 4000-hectare pocket of flourishing native bush home to a healthy population of 150 endangered brown kiwi and flocks of kererū up to 100 strong.