Has anyone, like me, wondered whether the nearly 60 years of 1080 use against Tasmania’s browsing herbivores* — possums and wallabies — would kill foxes?
The answer is an emphatic & resounding — Yes! Canids are extremely susceptible to 1080 and secondary poisoning — that resulting from consuming the body of animals killed by this poison — is a recognised risk to domestic dogs in this state.
With the tens of thousands of dead carcases available every year following the broad-scale use in 1080 baiting operations, what was the purpose of deploying over 60,000 1080-dried meat baits to specifically target foxes?
Has anyone else wondered why places where dogs have established in the wild occur are from remote areas; areas where 1080 poisoning of wildlife herbivores isn’t practiced?
Take the recent incidents of wild dogs in the Western Lakes areas of the Central Plateau. Maybe these are the sorts of places where we will get concrete evidence that foxes have established in Tasmania.
Remember the report of a daylight sighting of a fox at Cradle Mountain in May of last year and another reported sighting was near Arthus Lake in September 2005.
Are these the locations where authorities have the greater chance of finding the evidence to convince even the Premier of Tasmania!
I am not justifying the continued use of this poison, far from it!
However, if these are the insidious consequences of the way we have managed Tasmania landscapes then, I predict we will experience some serious ecological changes in the next few decades.
Over to you Tasmanian Times readers?
* 1080-laced baits are used for ‘crop protection’ in agricultural areas as well as in forestry regeneration coupes.
