Tag Archives: dingo baiting

NSW community must call halt on 1080 poison

dingo-1080-baiting-feb-2019-susan-cruttenden

1080 POISON HAS been banned by many countries around the world with very good reason and yet across NSW, our state government continues to saturate our landscapes with this hideous and cruel poison through ground baiting and aerial drops.

1080 poison kills its victims slowly and painfully. It’s a violent, merciless and abhorrent way for any living being to die, and is increasingly killing our family companion animals (dogs) and working dogs and many native species.

“Australia’s native dog, the Dingo, [main image] is a prime target of 1080 poisoning on behalf of sheep farmers. All canine species are targets, including foxes as well as other introduced mammals like pigs that escape into the countryside. State authorities deny more widespread species risk of being poisoned, against all evidence.”

IMAGE: Susan Cruttenden.

It’s indiscriminate and there is no antidote. Half a teaspoon can kill an adult human — much less a child, and secondary poisoning can and does occur.

The government and agencies like Department of Primary Industries and Local Land Service, and often the local councils, reassure us that 1080 poison is “humane”, and yet they know without any doubt that it’s not. They tell us it’s safe for our environment and native species, and yet authorities are intentionally and wilfully targeting native wallabies in Tasmania with 1080 poison, knowing it kills them and not caring how it kills them.

60 sheep poisoned in SA

Recently in SA, 60 sheep died a gruesome death after ingesting 1080 poison and in Victoria a $4,000 fine was imposed by the courts for the illegal and unsafe storage of copious amounts of poisons, including 1080, without a licence. How many sheds across NSW are storing lethal doses of 1080 poison is anyone’s guess, and clearly the ‘regulators’ and government haven’t a clue. Their monitoring and enforcement regimes are seriously lacking.

More and more members of the public are coming forward with distressing personal accounts of finding a much-loved dog dead, or worse, being traumatised after witnessing first hand, the suffering an animal goes through after taking a 1080 bait or experiencing secondary poisoning, including, violent convulsions, vomiting, screaming and absolute sheer terror.

> Related story 1080 The Nasty Poison: Why do Australians use it?

Some families have lost multiple dogs and all feel helpless trying to ease the suffering of their dog or dogs by rushing them to a vet — often too far away with many dying in agony in transit.  Can we even begin to imagine such an experience or how a child would ever recover bearing witness to watching their family friend suffer and die this way.

The NSW Minister for Agriculture and Western NSW, Adam Marshall, who has a clear conflict of interest also overseeing animal welfare, often supports these 1080 baiting programs, and yet he claims to be an animal lover. This is the same National Party minister who has continued to fail the welfare of all NSW animals in spectacular fashion.

With the stroke of a LNP privileged pen, Mr Marshall continues to unleash successive lethal 1080 baiting programs using millions of dollars in public money — without consulting the public. The most recent NSW 1080 baiting program includes an area the size of Russia. Think about that.

Floods spreading baits around countryside?

Recent devastating flooding saw homes, caravans, boats and many animals swept across the landscape and ending up a long way from their original locations. Think about how easily and widespread 1080 baits have also spread across the NSW landscape in these floods, and whether your drinking water catchment or your family is still safe.

Our government knows poisons like 1080 are ineffective population control — they don’t work, and have been proven to fail which is precisely why they continue to use this odourless and colourless poison year after year and decade after decade — with your public money. The same old lethal programs, political rhetoric and verbal excuses continue because it suits political policy directions, and because it’s cheap.

Reach out and say enough

If, like many Australians, you are concerned and feel compelled to become part of a local solution, please reach out and contact me at info@ban1080.org.au.

More information about the dangers of 1080 poison can be found on the Coalition of Australians Against 1080 Poison facebook page and website.

Ed note: We are informed that Victoria is gearing up to increase its 1080 poisoning with a parallel state-wide campaign.

— Lisa J Ryan wrote on behalf of the Coalition of Australians Against 1080 Poison.

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Dingo (Wild Dog) baiting in Southeastern Australia and Bushfire Recovery

Dear Minister/s,

17 February 2020

The Honourable Sussan Ley MP
Minister for Environment, Australia
Address: Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600
minister.ley@environment.gov.au

cc: The Honourable David Littleproud MP, Minister for Agriculture, Australia
(
minister.littleproud@agriculture.gov.au)
cc: The Honourable Lily D’Ambrosio MP, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Victoria (
lily.dambrosio@parliament.vic.gov.au)
cc: The Honourable Jaclyn Symes, Minister for Agriculture, Victoria
(
jaclyn.symes@parliament.vic.gov.au)
cc: The Honourable Matthew Kean MP, Minister for Energy and Environment, New
South Wales (
office@kean.minister.nsw.gov.au)
cc: The Honourable Adam Marshall MP, Minister for Agriculture, New South Wales
(
adam.marshall@parliament.nsw.gov.au)
cc: Dr Sally Box, Threatened Species Commissioner
(
ThreatenedSpeciesCommissioner@environment.gov.au)

The undersigned wish to express our expert opinion on the status of dingoes across Australia in light of the current bushfire emergency. At the time of writing, more than 10 million hectares has been burnt across Australia, including 1.2 million hectares in Victoria and 4.9 million hectares in New South Wales. Across southeastern Australia this represents burning of major dingo habitat zones in National Parks and State Forests. We commend the Federal, NSW and VIC State Governments for their focus on assisting fauna and flora recovery after the catastrophic 2019/2020 bushfire season, however, the proposed ‘feral predator’ aerial baiting plans are counterproductive to that aim. In particular, we wish to express concern about plans to undertake widespread 1080 “wild dog” aerial baiting across burnt habitat in NSW and VIC.

The prevailing wisdom is that introduced predators such as foxes and feral cats pose the most significant risk to native fauna (marsupials, birds, reptiles etc). These risks need to be proactively and swiftly managed to protect (already struggling) threatened species that have been endangered by recent bushfires. We agree that proactive measures to limit introduced predators may need to be taken but these should be targeted and not endanger native predators such as quolls, dingoes and varanids. Currently proposed aerial baiting programs will not target cats, leaving threatened species under increased pressure from these predators. It is also important to iterate that “wild dog” baiting will kill dingoes, leading to widespread mesopredator release, removing suppressive pressure on cat and fox populations exerted by dingoes.

Aerial baiting in bushfire affected southeastern Australia is an unacceptable risk to native carnivores Aerial baiting with 1080 poison poses an unacceptable risk to native predators such as quolls, dingoes and varanids because it is unknown if food scarcity in burnt landscape may increase bait consumption leading to poisoning of quolls or varanids. Furthermore, dingoes are highly susceptible to 1080 baiting and are included as a direct target of “wild dog” baiting efforts. Importantly, best-practice guidelines to limit 1080 baiting impacts on quolls suggests that all baits should be buried to a depth of more than 10 cm andaerial or broadcast surface baiting should only be used in areas where it can
be demonstrated that there is a low risk to spot-tailed quoll populations
(EPBC Act Policy Statement 3.4 — Significant impact guidelines for the endangered spot-tailed quoll Dasyurus maculatus maculatus (southeastern mainland population) and the use of 1080). Currently it is unknown how quolls and other non-target species will be impacted by aerial baiting in burnt habitat. Arguably, the recently proposed NSW “wildlife and conservation bushfire recovery” plan should be referred to the Federal Environment Minister under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 for assessment.

We strongly emphasise the ecological importance of terrestrial apex predators in  biodiversity resilience and ecosystem functioning. Dingoes are the sole non-human land-based top predator on the Australian mainland. Their importance to the ecological health and resilience of Australian ecosystems cannot be overstated, from regulating wild herbivore abundance (e.g. various kangaroo species), to reducing the impacts of feral mesopredators (cats, foxes) on native marsupials (Johnson & VanDerWal 2009; Wallach et al. 2010; Letnic et al. 2012; Letnic et al. 2013; Newsome et al. 2015; Morris & Letnic 2017). It would be hypothesised that continued dramatic reduction of dingo populations, by aerial baiting, will enable introduced mesopredators such as foxes and cats to exploit burnt areas unchecked, posing a high risk to threatened native species. The impacts of feral cats and red foxes are likely to be amplified in disturbed ecosystems, such as those burnt by bushfires. Indiscriminate and non-target specific lethal management should not be implemented if there is a risk to the persistence of threatened native fauna or ecosystem resilience.

We would urge the Federal, NSW and VIC State Governments to focus bushfire recovery efforts on proactive evidence-based measures including:

Installation of exclusion fences to protect recovering vegetation and wildlife communities (short-term)

Targeting lethal control measures to key refuge areas and important sites for remaining populations of threatened species

Limiting lethal control to targeted methods such as shooting, trapping or ground-baiting where steps are taken to limit non-target bait consumption

Providing supplemental shelter, food and water to identified remaining populations of threatened species

Increasing post-fire weed control to protect regeneration efforts.

 

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