The World League for Protection of Animals
'Remember animals... they feel hunger, thirst, heat, cold, pain, fear and loneliness...'

 

Home

How You Can Help

About WLPA

Contact WLPA

FAQ

Links

Australian Charity Fundraising Number (CFN): 12896

 Email: admin@wlpa.org

Call Today +61298174892   | Fax +61298174509  

 

Campaigns

Education

Companion Animals

Free Living Cats

Kangaroos

Kangaroo & Joey Orphanage

Exploited Wildlife

Hunting

1080 Poison

Steel Jaw Traps

Premarin

Bear Bile Farming

Fur

Animal Experiments

 

News

Media Releases

Coming Events

 

Animals and Humans

Animals and Humans

Adopt An Animal

Lost Animals

Children's Corner

Children's Corner

Search q

Google


www
http://www.wlpa.org

 

1080 Poison

1080 Is Torture

1080 (sodium monofluroacetate) is a cruel and indiscriminate poison used to ‘remove’ unwanted populations of animals.
 
Banned in most countries, 1080 is still used liberally throughout Australia to control so-called ‘pest’ species, and reduce ‘browsing damage’ caused by native animals on private land.

1080 poison is a slow killer. When ingested (usually through baited food) the animal suffers a prolonged and horrific death. Herbivores take the longest to die – up to 44hrs, while carnivores can take up to 21hrs before finally succumbing to final effects of the poison. The speed of death is dependent on the rate of the animals metabolism. 

A Slow & Horrific Death

Witnesses to the deaths of herbivorous animals, such as macropods, have reported:

"Affected wallabies were sometimes observed sitting hunched up, with heads held shakily just above the ground. Generally they appeared non-alert and 'sick', with shivering or shaking forelimbs and unsteady balance. Most individuals then experience convulsions, falling to the ground and lying on their backs and sides, kicking and making running motions with their hind legs before dying. Many individuals also ejaculated shortly before death, and, with others, exuded a white froth from their nostrils and mouth."

Carnivorous animals such as dingoes, dogs, foxes, and cats become very agitated, as they tremble, convulse and vomit.

The list of symptoms include:

"…restlessness; increased hyperexcitability; incontinence or diarrhea; excessive salivation; abrupt bouts of vocalization; and finally sudden bursts of violent activity. All affected animals then fall to the ground in teranic seizure, with hind limbs or all four limbs and sometimes the tail extended rigidly from their arched bodies. At other times the front feet are clasped together, clenched or used to scratch frantically at the cage walls. This tonic phase is then followed by a clonic phase in which the animals lie and kick or 'paddle' with the front legs and sometimes squeal, crawl around and bite at objects. During this phase the tongue and penis may be extruded, their eyes rolled back so that only the whites show and the teeth ground together. Breathing is rapid but laboured, with some animals partly choking on their saliva. Finally such individuals begin to relax, breathing more slowly and shallowly and lying quietly with the hind legs still extended but apparently semiparalysed".

From the above descriptions, it is without question that 1080 poison inflicts great pain and suffering on affected animals. Aside from the physical pain endured over the many hours before death, the terror, fear and anxiety felt by these animals is unimaginable.

 1080 Spreads Through the Environment

1080 is primarily used to ‘manage’ introduced species. However, this poison is an indiscriminate killer. Poison laid for rabbits is normally in the form of baited carrots and oats, but any other animal occupying a similar niche such as the kangaroo are just as likely to eat the poison. It has been estimated that baits laid for rabbits threaten a further 50-62 species.

1080 not only has devastating consequences for the animals who directly consume it, but it also affects the surrounding environment and its inhabitants. Scavengers and carnivores are killed through secondary poisoning when they feed upon unrecovered carcasses. Indeed 1080 spreads so thoroughly through an ecosystem that insectivorous birds have been killed in baited areas by eating insects who have fed on carcasses and poisoned food. 

Despite the obvious pain and suffering caused by this barbaric poison, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (the body responsible for the review, regulation and distribution of 1080), refuse to reassess the use of 1080 based on animal welfare. This is because (quote) ‘there are no well established scientific criteria for assessing or making decisions about animal humaneness.
 
1080 Is Not An Effective Form Of Population Control

1080 is not a sustainable method of population control, and only temporarily removes the target animals from a given area. It also has no effect on the overall population of a species (except where they are already made vulnerable through habitat loss, i.e. with native animals). The sudden removal of a group of animals merely creates ‘spaces’ which will quickly refill themselves.

1080 only creates the illusion of an immediate solution, usually for short sighted economic gains. There are many forms of non-lethal population control, that are both humane and effective, and that will not also damage our already very fragile environment.
 
Non-Lethal, Humane & Effective Alternatives

Many humane and non-lethal alternatives to 1080 exist, and if we stop seeing 1080 as a ‘necessary evil’ many more alternatives will be developed.

  • Maremma Guard Dogs
  • Fertility Control
  • Growing sacrifice crops
  • Electric fencing
  • Wallaby & rabbit proof mesh fencing
  • Metal tree rings to minimise ‘grazing damage’

1080 Wildlife Massacre

During May 2005 up to 200 000 Bennetts wallabies on King Island were sentenced to a slow and agonising death in one of the largest coordinated 1080 poisonings seen in Tasmania, our so-called 'clean, green, natural state'.

In an environment already saturated with 1080 these wallabies were the latest victims in the Agricultural and Plantation Forestry Industries effort to prevent our increasingly vulnerable wildlife from grazing on private land.

King Island, which is 64 kilometres long by 27 kilometres wide, is dominated by agriculture. Seventy percent of its once magnificent environment has now been decimated to provide grazing land for cattle and sheep, forcing the native inhabitants to live on the peripheries of farms as unwanted pests. In an attempt to further reduce the numbers of wallabies a line of baited carrots 115 kilometres long was placed across 16 of the island's farms to control 'browsing damage'.

Bennetts wallabies take many hours to die after having consumed 1080 baits. Witnesses have reported that the animals can be observed sitting 'hunched up' with their heads and limbs shaking. Poisoned individuals appear 'sick' and withdrawn from their surroundings, and eventually suffer from   violent seizures before collapsing and kicking uncontrollably. As they die, usually from cardiac failure, white foam exudes from their mouth and nostrils. It is also important to recognise that in-pouch joeys will not necessarily die from the 1080 poisoning after drinking their mothers contaminated milk. The people responsible for clearing the carcasses are instructed under the 'Code of Practice for Use of  1080  Poison'  to  'humanely destroy' any surviving in-pouch joeys found in dead mothers by 'decapitation with a sharp knife or a heavy blow to the head'. However, as you will later read only an estimated 10% of the 200 000 dead marsupials will be recovered, and so the majority of in-pouch joeys will be left to slowly die of dehydration or starvation.
 
The liberal use of 1080 as a means of controlling so called 'pest' species and populations has shocking consequences not only for the target animal, but for the surrounding environment and it inhabitants. A preliminary review of the use of 1080 by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) released on 23 May 2005 for public comment, shows without doubt that the dispersal of 1080 in 'bait form' presents a danger to non-target  animals,  and  that  the chemical is  'easily leached from some materials by rain or even dew fall'. Non-target animals (each species has varying sensitivity) are as equally attracted to 1080 baits as the targeted animals. Native mammals who are commonly killed by herbivore baits (such as those used for the Bennetts wallabies) are other macropods, wombats, possums and native rodents. But its list of unintended victims does not end there scavenging animals such as magpies, kookaburras, crows, and currawongs, and carnivorous species like the already threatened Tasmanian Devil and marsupial quolls are killed through secondary poisoning when they feed upon unrecovered carcasses. Indeed 1080 spreads so thoroughly through an ecosystem that insectivorous birds have been killed in baited areas by eating insects that have fed on carcasses and poisoned food.
 
One of the species listed in the APVMA report as being so susceptible to carrot baits that local extinctions have occurred, is the Potoroo. This tiny macropod is one of the many native animals that tourists can hope to encounter on King Island. And for all the carnivorous and scavenging animals it has been estimated that only 10% of the possible 200 000 Bennetts wallabies poisoned will be recovered after death. This minimal attempt is made despite a strong recommendation from the APVMA that 'animal carcasses must be recovered during and for 14 days after a baiting campaign and be destroyed by burning or burial'. However this promise only accounts for 23% of the 1080 used annually in Tasmania, 77% will still be used by the Agricultural and Plantation Forestry Industries.
 
The fact that agricultural profit is constantly placed above the interests and well being of other animals will most likely ensure the continuation of 1080 use. The APVMA touched briefly on the subject of animal welfare in their report but stated that as there is no 'scientific criteria for assessing or making decisions about animal humaneness' they could come to no conclusions on this 'matter', and Braddon Liberal MHR Mark Baker referred to those who have spoken out against the use of 1080 as an "extremist bunch of self-righteous bullies".
 
ACTION
Please send letters of protest to the Tasmanian Government and demand that they prohibit the use of 1080 on private land based on humane and environmental objections. There are proven alternatives to 1080 and they must be used. Also write to ‘Tasmanian Tourism’ and let them know that Tasmania is fast loosing its reputation as the 'natural state' and that the revenue made from eco-tourism far out weighs the minimal reduction in revenue which may result from the co-existence of agriculture, forestry and wildlife.
 
Hon. Judy Jackson
Tasmanian Minister for Environment & Planning
GPO Box 825
Hobart 7001
 
Tourism Tasmania
GPO Box 399
Hobart TAS 7001

rob.giason@tourism.tas.gov.au

1080 Poison: WA Govt. Wants Full Scale Cruel Poison Retained

Objections by the Western Australian Government to a proposed limitation in the use of 1080 poison are astonishing, according to  Joan Papayanni, President of the World League for Protection of Animals.  “Such objections take no account of possible long term effects on the environment of continued use of this poison, or of the horrendous suffering of all animals ingesting it – both native and non-native,” she said.
 
“Proposed by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority after a three year national review, the limitation in 1080 use, reducing the number of allowed baits per kilometre from five to two, is a step forward, but does not go nearly far enough,” says Ms Papayanni. “Targeted to kill foxes, wild dogs and feral cats, the poison kills many other species as well, through primary or secondary poisoning. Concern at the number of secondary poisons was in fact a major trigger for the review.  But no animal deserves death from 1080.
 
“Meat baits can remain toxic for up to eight weeks and in dry conditions for up to a year – leaving a long period of time for secondary poisoning to occur. In carnivores such as dingoes, foxes and cats, animals become very agitated, tremble, have violent seizures, and may crawl around, biting randomly at objects till their breath becomes laboured, semi paralysis sets in and they eventually die. This can take up to 20 hours. Many a loved companion animal has died in this way.
 
 “A poison banned in almost every country of the world except Australia and New Zealand and virtually outlawed in the US since 1972, 1080 should be outlawed in Australia, not only for its cruelty but also because we simply do not know what might be the long term effects of continually pouring substantial amounts of this poison into the environment. .
 
It is to be hoped the final review will strongly promote alternative solutions to saving native animals from predation – solutions such as appropriate fencing and the use of guard animals such as llamas and Maremma Guard Dogs – found to be effective in many cases in guarding sheep.
 
The painful poisoning of animals should not be acceptable in 21st century Australia.

Please note that some councils within Sydney are now choosing not to use 1080 in their control of introduced animals.

1080 Poison: 1080 IS TORTURE

PROTEST AGAINST 1080 USE IN TASMANIA
 
UP TO 200 000 WALLABIES DIE SLOW AGONISING DEATH

During May up to 200 000 Bennetts wallabies on King Island were sentenced to a slow agonising death in one of the largest coordinated 1080 poisoning seen in Tasmania.
 
A 115km line of baited carrots was laid across 16 beef and dairy farms in order to control ‘browsing damage’ from native wildlife. Bennetts wallabies take approximately twelve hours to die; during this time they convulse violently and froth at the mouth before finally collapsing from cardiac failure. The Code of Practice for 1080 Use in Tasmania states that the in-pouch joeys who often survive must be ‘humanely destroyed’ by ‘decapitation’ or ‘a heavy blow to the head’. However, only an estimated 10% of the dead bodies on King Island were collected, leaving thousands of in-pouch joeys to slowly die from dehydration and starvation while the bodies of their mothers rotted around them.
 
In 2004 the Tasmanian government promised that it would phase out the use of 1080 poison in state forests by December 2005. But this promise would only apply to 23% of the 1080 used annually in Tasmania, 77% is used by private land holders to poison hundreds of thousands of our increasingly vulnerable wildlife each year.
 
1080 is an indiscriminate poison and it affects entire ecosystems. Non-target animals (each species has varying sensitivity) are equally attracted to baits. Scavenging animals, such as magpies and kookaburras, and carnivorous animals, like the endangered Tasmanian Devil, and the marsupial Quoll, routinely die when they feed upon unrecovered carcasses. One of the species listed by the Australian Pesticides & Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) as being so susceptible to carrot baits that local extinctions have occurred, is the Potoroo. These tiny macropods are also native to King Island.
 
King Island farmers insist that they resorted to using poison because ‘there exists no other commercially viable alternative’. However many would dispute this claim including the APVMA which recently released a review of 1080 use. Its findings state that there are many humane, affordable and effective products such as fencing, including the wallaby proof ‘mesh fencing’ and tree guards for use in plantations. The Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research has also tested and proven that mesh fences are not only cost effective but reliably prevent unwanted herbivores from accessing private property. Before issuing permits to farmers the Department of Primary Industries Water & Environment (DPIWE) “encourages” the fencing of properties as an alternative to 1080 use but does not require that these recommendations are not mandatory.

The APVMA states that Tasmania’s use of 1080 only ‘exerts a “knock-down” effect and does not reduce the local numbers of the target species in the long term'. Yet 1080 is consistently used as the main method for population control.
 
Joan Papayanni President for the World League for Protection of Animals said she is “… appalled that Tasmania the so called ‘Natural State’ is still using such  damaging and noxious poisons in our environment when alternatives exist, and given there are dangerous and long lasting side effects. Already a majority of states throughout the US have banned the use of 1080 based on humane and environmental reasons, as have most enlightened countries around the world.”
 
The World League will be holding a protest against Tasmania’s use of 1080, at the Tasmanian Tourism Office, 50 Parkes St Sydney on Friday 22 July 2005 from 12pm noon till 2pm.
 
Please come and defend Tasmania’s disappearing native wildlife!
 
Contacts:
 
Joan Papayanni President: 9817 3455

WLPA Office: 9817 4892

1080 Poison: World League Protests Tasmania’s Use of 1080 to Kill Wildlife

On the 22 July 2005 the World League for Protection of Animals held a demonstration outside the Tasmanian Tourism Offices in Sydney to protest the use of 1080 to kill Bennetts Wallabies and other native wildlife on King Island and Flinders Island.
 
On the day we distributed thousands of leaflets, and were met with great enthusiasm and support from passers by.
 
We urge everyone to contact the Tasmanian Government, and the King and Flinders Island Councils and demand that they immediately replace their use of 1080 with the many humane, non-lethal alternatives that are currently available.

 
 

Support Our Work

Donate to WLPA

Donate - Take action
and assist animals in distress

 

Donations $2 and over are tax deductible

Click here to donate in other ways

Become A Member

Click here to complete
membership details

l

Individual Membership -
AU$25 pa

Pensioner or Student Membership -

AU$10 pa

Family Membership -
AU$40 pa

WLPA Life Membership -
AU$300

Become a Volunteer

Click here to apply...

Bequests

Click here if you would like to help us continue providing for animals...

Donate Goods

Click here to find out what WLPA animals need...

Our Donors


Thank you to all those who help
in our work!

 

Home | How You Can Help | About WLPA | Contact WLPA | FAQ | Links | Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Site Map

Copyright 2010 The World League for Protection of Animals
For problems or questions regarding this Web Site contact admin@wlpa.org