Saturday, March 21, 2009

We went into battle this week and the crowd came with us


We were down Napier way this week in a place called Te Pohue.

We had a meeting to attend - which was also attended by some of the Animal Health Board leaders from Wellington.

Their objective - to inform the locals of the "benefits" of 1080, and the fight against TB.
Our objective - to inform locals of the truth about the AHB objective.

After all, they plan to drop 1080 over 55,000 hectares of the Te Urewera National Park. Can you believe that? One of our most precious wilderness areas.

We decided to really help get the locals stirred up on this issue - so that's what we did.

There were cheers from the crowd, after we encouraged them to fight this stuff, and never permit these filthy toxins to be dropped into their environment - much to the shock of the six in the opposition team, all armed with briefcases, and 150k salaries.

Anyway, the AHB, and regional council were pushing their usual lines, but were lost on some questions from the floor. This crowd was sharp on their knowledge - and besides, this crowd had the same drop dumped on them 2 ½ years ago so the devastation is still fresh in their minds.

They plan to re-kill 55,000 of Te Urewera forest, in the hope of catching a possum with TB. But how big is the TB problem really?

AHB revealed that it is quite safe to consume meat infected with TB. Even the ERMA decision paper said it’s nearly impossible to catch the disease, even if you ate raw meat infected with TB. In fact, TB-infected stock is currently sold into local supermarkets. The TB issue is a STIGMA thing – it’s not a real threat.

But 1080 is a real threat.

So, which stigma would you rather trade with - a low chance of TB in your meat, or a low chance of the deadly 1080 toxin in your meat and water?

I know which one I'd choose.

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