Thursday, July 7, 2011

18 of 31 radio-tagged owls found dead day before 1080 poison drop

On October the 3rd, 2010, 25,000 hectares of the Waitutu Forest, in the Fiordland National Park, was aerially poisoned with 1080.
The following comment was posted by a Department of Conservation employee on June 28, 2011, which was far more revealing than the official DoC declaration delivered last year (see below)...


The following information is from a study undertaken during the 2010 Waitutu 1080 operation. The report is in the process of peer review and publishing. Note that bad weather killed 18 ruru (Owl) before the operation and the one that died after the operation was found cached underground by a predator and it tested clear of 1080.

Of the 31 radio-tagged ruru known to be alive at the beginning of August, transmitters belonging to 18 of these birds were discovered in mortality mode during an aerial status check immediately prior (3 Oct 2010) to the distribution of toxic baits (4 Oct 2010). Ground-based checks of these birds commencing 4 October confirmed that all of these birds were dead and had been for some days (≥10 days). Of the remaining 13 radio-tagged ruru, two transmitters appeared to have failed (intermittent or no detectable signal) leaving 11 radio-tagged ruru known to be alive or detectable within the operational area when 1080 baits were distributed. One of these 11 birds died within three days of toxic bait application. This bird was found cached underground but recovered intact (8 Oct 2010) and subsequently autopsied (Massey School of Veterinary Science) and tested for 1080 residues (CENTOX). No traces of 1080 were found.


For 18 of 31 radio tagged, native owls (Ruru - Maori) to die just prior to an aerial 1080 poison operation, in terrain that is easily traversable, is very disturbing.
Today I talked to Ross Campbell, owl expert, and owner of the famed OWLCATRAZ  tourist park.
I asked him about the Ruru. Ross stated that Ruru are very resilient in winter weather, and when I mentioned that 18 tagged birds reportedly died recently, in bad weather, he said he'd be surprised if even one had.
Ross went on to say that the Ruru lives up to 80 years, that they're bad breeders, and poor parents.
He pointed out that if Ruru are dying in large numbers, it could take a thousand years for the population to recover. He went on to say that when aerial operations were conducted in the Tararua Forest Park, he observed the native owl population slump by two thirds.

If the Department of Conservation managed to find 31 Ruru to tag, prior to this operation, the population was probably in good order, despite weather conditions over the last 1000 years!

However, in their summary of the poison drop, lats year, DoC stated ... "Local birdlife was monitored both before and after the operation including, tomtits, grey warblers, rifleman, mohua, kaka and ruru. No birds were found to have been killed by the poison, including 15 kaka and 11 ruru/morepork which were monitored. There was no detectable reduction in bird numbers as a result of the operation, and it is clearly evident that bird numbers are now on the increase due to the reduction in predators." 

The Department of Conservation stated they had only monitored 11 morepork in the statement above. However, at least 31 birds were radio tagged, and recovery of the dead - missing birds, didn't begin until after the drop had begun. Although weather is blamed for the deaths, a more likely cause is the radio tags interfering with the birds ability to move and hunt. 

It is common for radio tagged birds to die around 1080 poison drops. Often 50% mortality is observed.
These birds are rarely tested for poison residues - instead, their deaths are attributed to predation, and so testing is excluded.

1080 poison has no antidote, and causes secondary poisoning. Ruru have been found dead with 1080 residues in their carcasses before. The birds don't eat the baits directly, but target poisoned mice, small rats, insects, and even joey possums that leave the pouch after their mother eats the bait. The joeys receive the poison through their mother's milk, and can then poison the birds. Ruru are at high risk of poisoning in aerial operations, as are many other native species. To eliminate poisoning as a cause of death, even in scavenged birds, testing should be mandatory.

Due to the unusual nature of this event, I have submitted an Official Information Act request to the district office that managed this operation. I will post the result of that request when it is returned.

With increasing budgets, and the power that comes with those budgets, it's important that transparency is maintained within the public service, and that bureaucrats remain accountable to the public that fund them.  The Act requires a response within 20 days.

So what is the Official Information Act, and why is it important?

The Official Information Act was established in 1982. 
The purpose of the law is toincrease the availability of official information to promote more effective public participation in the making and administration of laws and policies.
Click here to view Poisoning Paradise ... 

20 comments:

  1. Do you think 1080 had something to do with these Ruru deaths?

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  2. We'll probably never know. We do know that 2 things changed in their habitat around the time of their deaths.
    1/DoC came in, radio-tagging the birds.
    2/DoC came in dropping poisonous food from helicopters, directly onto their food supply. Their food supply - mice, small rats, birds, insects - generally like to eat the poisonous food that was provided to them.

    However, perhaps they died because the radio transmitters were incorrectly fitted, and prevented the birds from catching their dinner - they use their feet, not their beaks, to catch their food. In other words, they were starved to death by those charged with protecting them.

    We can surmise all day long, but these birds were alive before DoC got their hands on them - and, as was stated in the post above, that was likely to be a considerable number of years.

    It is not ethical to allow this sort of practice to continue - in the name of trying to prove the opposite of what we all know, and we've known for years - that 1080 laced food kills large numbers of native wildlife.

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  3. Remarkable stuff that 1080, if it can go back in time.

    However, I know for a fact a large number of sheep were found dead in that area at that time too. Would you be interested in following that up?

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  4. Aaron, did sheep die after the poison drop? Was there an over-spray? It's not unusual.

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  5. How is this a story Clyde? Even a 6 year old with basic reading comprehension could figure out that the 18 ruru died before the drop.

    You also seem to have convieniently left out the fact that there was an extreme weather event at the time. Here's a few articles to job your memory http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/southland-s-icy-weather-not-over-yet-3791432?ref=rss
    http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/southland-s-icy-weather-not-over-yet-3791432/photos

    Also, what kind of research is there to support Ross Campbells claims about the alleged drop in owl numbers in the Tararua Forest Park? Anecdotes and unrecorded observations don't cut it.You can't hold a double standard of demanding peer reviewed, scientifically rigourous studies from those who suppport 1080, and then blithely put wildly unsubstantiated claims out there to support your views. Bit of a pot calling the kettle black situation don't you think?

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  6. A 6 year old doesn't know how much DoC mislead the public!

    This is what DoC stated about the success of the Waitutu drop, (which is vastly different to what I have heard from someone involved within the dropzone)...

    "Local birdlife was monitored both before and after the operation including, tomtits, grey warblers, rifleman, mohua, kaka and ruru. No birds were found to have been killed by the poison, including 15 kaka and 11 ruru/morepork which were monitored. There was no detectable reduction in bird numbers as a result of the operation, and it is clearly evident that bird numbers are now on the increase due to the reduction in predators."

    That's strange, there were actually 31 Morepork/ruru tagged, but DoC only mentions 11! The morepork population is in a bad way, now!

    There is extreme weather every year! We've had a few extreme snow falls, in 2006 and 2008 in the Urewera. 30% of the canopy ended up on the forest floor. Yet the morepork are doing better there than any other place we know of in the country. No 1080, either.

    This was a cause where DoC have interfered with a healthy population of Morepork, and over 66% of the population died, and they failed to mention it.

    Morepork are long lived, and slow breeders, and 60% of the population don't die every bad snow fall.

    It may have been the tagging, or the the poison. DoC stated the bad weather as cause of death. That's most unlikely. DoC have spent considerable money informing this drop was a great success, with no bird mortality.
    Then a DoC worker comes out and states that a total of 21 of the tagged 31 birds died. If it was poor tagging practice, that should come out too.

    In regard to Mr Campbell's comments - he has had big increases of Moreporks handed into his tourist park after aerial 1080 drops. Some take 2 weeks to die. He has lived around the Tararuas for many years, and has studied Morepork for most of his life. He has a fair idea what's going on out there.

    It's about time the public are informed about the true cost of these drops - and it's clear we're never going to see DoC volunteer to do that.

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  7. Hi Clyde,
    I think the key to your first claim that DoC isn't telling the truth is this part of the statement. "There was no detectable reduction in bird numbers as a result of the operation". As a result of the operation = 1080 was not involved in their death. Their statement about the success of the Waitutu drop is only dealing with those birds that were still alive at the time of the drop.Therefore the 18 that died prior to the drop are not included because they were no longer part of the population at the time of the drop. That isn't misleading. The tagged morepork that were still alive at the time of the drop survived.
    I'd back the weather scenario myself for the death of the other birds due to the timing of deaths within a few days of each other along with the sudden weather change. There is evidence that other species of owl are susceptible to sudden temperature changes, I can't confidently say that this applies to morepork as well but their biology would be similar.If you have a scientific study to say morepork are not susceptible to cold, as Mr Campbell seems to think, that would be good to see.

    Has Ross Campbell authored, or supported, peer reviewed research of his studies into morepork? I'm sure he has some good knowledge about captive breeding/rearing of moreporks but general observations don't always cut it when put under the microscope. The claim of a 2/3 reduction in the overall morepork population in the Tararuas is a big one to make without a properly conducted scientific study.

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  8. The DoC are deliberately misleading.

    "There was no detectable reduction in bird numbers as a result of the operation, and it is clearly evident that bird numbers are now on the increase due to the reduction in predators."

    This statement is clearly misleading. There was a huge reduction in numbers as a result of the operation. Over 66% of ruru, due to being tagged as part of the operation, is a huge reduction.

    The ruru is a lot bigger and a lot hardier than the tomtits, the warblers, the rifleman. How many of them died due to bad weather? The populations would take years to recover if they all sustained 66% loss, when comparing pre to post drop!

    No mention of their deaths due to bad weather - just the birds of prey. Whether it was poison, or whether it was DoC attaching radio equipment that interfered with the bird's hunting abilities - it's still as a result of the operation, and needs to be investigated.

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  9. Now you are stating that tagging definitely caused the 18 morepork deaths? Geez, for a guy who gets so adamant about peer reviewed, scientific research from those who support 1080 you sure to like to make widesweeping, unsupported claims yourself. Maybe you should apply those rules to your own work Clyde rather than just basing everything you say on observations and anecdotes, which seem to make up a lot of your so called evidence against 1080. Nice to see you also ignored questions about the validity of Ross Campbell's statements, makes me think they may also be based on a few guesstimations that won't hold up to any scientific scrutiny.

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  10. It's mostly likely not as a direct result of the weather.

    We have just had big snow falls again in the south. I guess that means ruru are now close to extinction, with a 66% reduction in population every winter - the tomtits, kereru, rifleman, warblers, and fantails too! And that's just in the last 2 years.

    The ruru are more winter proof in their hides, as opposed to the other species. We'd better hope for global warming to speed up.

    It's interesting to look a bit deeper into the other bird species that have been tagged, while assessing 1080 operations and for other observations.

    In one case, over 60% of tagged kiwi chicks were "predated" on after a "successful" poison operation. (possibly scavenged or predated on while dying of 1080 poison - but we'll never know because only 5 kiwi have been tested in the last 15 years - Why? because we wouldn't want to find the truth) There's many more, too.

    100's of our native species have died after being fitted with radio tags. The majority are assessed as predated on. How convenient.
    The birds may have been predated on or scavenged, but all birds found dead where poisons are used should be tested for poison residues. After all, there that much poison dropped into our forests, regardless of what the public are told.

    The stoat's diet is reported as being less than 10% bird matter - that is until you kill off it's main food source - the rat. There needs to be careful, targeted management, if you're going to start fiddling with the ecosystem.

    1080 "research" is full of anecdotes, wishful thinking, guesses, bias and driven by pre-determined outcomes.

    You may mean well, but we need to stop wasting money killing off our native species with poisons and experiments, and start targeting the pest that does the damage.

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  11. "100's of our native species have died after being fitted with radio tags."

    Hundreds? That sounds concerning. Can you give me a link to read more?

    Clyde, your argument sounds desperate to the point of silliness in this case. Last September was one of the worst periods of protracted bad weather in that area in decades, several hundred thousand lambs and adult sheep died. Recent weather has been nowhere near as bad.

    There may be a possible case for the deaths resulting from handling the Ruru, but from 1080, when they died BEFORE the drop? Surely you can do better than that.

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  12. Hi Aaron, please see next post re radio transmitters, tagging, and monitoring. This covers only about 4 years.

    I think you are right, about being desperate. It's so hard to get some truth into the mix, when the power of bureaucracy is so great. We'll see what the OIA returns.

    In regard to weather - we've had bad weather since the beginning of time, including now. If farmers put their ewes to lamb too early, we will have casualties - it's the price we pay for trying to squeeze more out of the farm than nature allows.

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  13. "please see next post re radio transmitters, tagging, and monitoring. This covers only about 4 years."

    Where'd the post go?

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  14. Hi Aaron. Sorry about that, it was accidentally posted. It's coming later today. Cheers.

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  15. "we've had bad weather since the beginning of time, including now. If farmers put their ewes to lamb too early, we will have casualties - it's the price we pay for trying to squeeze more out of the farm than nature allows."

    Stick to myths and legends of 1080, Clyde, you are way off track here. The bad weather occured after some of the early lambers were started, but continued for so long that even delayed lambing dates were hit. Southland can get lamb-killing storms into October too you realise?

    This is the real world, Clyde, 'nature red in tooth and claw'. We are at risk of such events because we have a free-range, pastoral agricultural system the envy of the world. Far superior to artificial indoor-lambing type systems. I've had first hand experience with overseas confinement style operations and their death rates are as high as ours, but from disease and infection rather than weather related.

    Your comment is surprising, I'd assumed you were better informed about our farming systems than that. If you were, you'd realise death rates on sheep farms have been falling for over 25 years now.

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  16. "https://docs.google.com/document/d/159EszGr0vDMYGTmeMd9lDyohw-uwsTSVJK0NBepU7_U/edit?hl=en_US"

    Some interesting selection of text there.

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  17. "Hi Aaron. Sorry about that, it was accidentally posted. It's coming later today. Cheers."

    And now its gone again. What happened to the post?

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  18. Sorry. It turned out to be a bigger job than originally estimated. It will be posted tomorrow.

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  19. Dear Clyde and Steve, I'd like to use your fabulous photo of a ruru in an online writing course. Is that possible, if I attribute copyright to you and link to your blog?

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  20. Hi Rachel. Yes, thanks for asking, that's fine. Just for your piece in your course. Please credit - The Graf Boys, and yes, it would be great if you could like to our blog. I have a good kiwi pic, or 2, if you need that, too. Cheers.

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