A TOXIC GREEN BACKFLIP

When I asked my local Greens candidate her party’s position on the use of 1080 poison baits for the control of wild deer in her electorate, I expected a perfunctory response akin to "over my dead body!" Instead, her response couldn't have surprised me more had it included a complimentary box of cartridges, a blessing from the party's chief Druid and directions to a sure-fire hunting spot.

"1080 is being a realist, and is far far more effective control method than rec shooters who like to leave more for next season" she advised. (Note the requisite attack on hunters, despite the courtesy with which my question was posed)

My request for Greens’ Party policy came as a result of reading the article Farmers and Greens agree that deer are feral pests and need tougher controls (ABC Rural, January 26th, 2015) in which a number of agencies claim that deer must be reclassified a pest species in order that their numbers might be more effectively managed.

As I have indicated in previous articles, I do not believe deer represent the same threat as that posed by feral species such as pigs, cats, foxes or even goats, all of which have a far greater impact on the environment. In my view it makes no sense to declare deer a new enemy when so many battles in the war against introduced species are already being fought and roundly lost on existing fronts.

1080 poisoned yearling deer.

Further, in a country where, save for special circumstances, it is illegal to pursue all native sources of free-range organic meat, I do not think it unreasonable that deer at least should be controlled rather than exterminated. Deer stand at the pinnacle of the Australian hunter's very limited legal quarry and their economic potential is yet to be adequately explored locally, much less as an international tourist draw-card.

At present deer are classified a game species as opposed to a pest species. As such they’re a valuable public resource that may be harvested by hunters possessing the requisite Game Licence. The main difference between the ‘pest’ and ‘game’ classifications lies in the application of specific seasons in the case of game animals, during which the resource may (and may not) be legally harvested. Bag limits also apply.

Unlike feral animals such as pigs and goats that breed year 'round, most deer breed in seasons specific to their species and hunting seasons are set in an effort to ensure that does/hinds are not hunted while carrying or nursing fawns; a concession, I might add, granted at the behest of animal welfare agencies.

Few would deny deer numbers require management and I am certainly not opposed to the use of humane means of control, including, at a pinch, the responsible use of appropriate poisons.  However, I remain unconvinced that the use of 1080 for deer control is either appropriate or responsible.

My local Greens candidate, however, has no such reservations, advising that "Feral Bambi is not the same as the animals on a deer farm or on the movie screen" and "The Greens support scientifically based feral animal control, which may include some baiting carried out under very strict procedures."

I found these revelations most surprising, since the following was forthcoming from the Greens not so very long ago, in response to a similar question:

"Thank you very much for your questions. We always appreciate the chance to clarify our position! We strongly oppose the use of the cruel 1080 poison. Always have! For example, Tasmanian Greens Leader Peg Putt introduced legislation to ban its use in Tasmania in 2002, only to be voted down by the other two parties."

In a relatively short period the Greens have gone from strong opposition to the "cruel 1080 poison", to, "1080 is being realistic." So why the change of policy, why is 1080 no-longer out of the question and what exactly is 1080?

1080, or Sodium fluoroacetate, is a poisonous compound found in trace quantities in the foliage of some Australian vegetation, where it serves as a disincentive to over browsing. As a result, some species of Australian native fauna possess a tolerance to its toxic effects. A tolerance not an immunity and only in trace quantities at that.

Fluoroacetate disrupts the citric acid cycle (also known as the Krebs cycle) by combining with co-enzyme A to form fluoroacetyl CoA, which reacts with citrate synthase to produce fluorocitrate.  A metabolite of fluorocitrate binds very tightly to aconitase, thereby halting the citric acid cycle. This is a very complicated way of saying that an accumulation of citrate develops in the blood, depriving cells of energy, resulting in death.

The use of 1080 has been banned in most countries. At present there is only one manufacturer (USA) and 80% of its product is consumed by New Zealand, where the use of 1080 can only be described as rampant. For details, see a seemingly endless assortment of youtube videos produced by concerned citizens, among them the very informative Poisoning Paradise by the highly regarded NZ documentary videographers, the Graf Boys.

The remaining 20% of the world's production of 1080 is consumed by Australia, where it is used to control feral animals such as pigs, foxes and dogs and by Mexico, Japan, Korea, and Israel where 1080 is used as a rodenticide.

Death may be relatively swift, around 4 hours after ingestion, though that is not assured and death, by all accounts, is seldom merciful. Death may be extremely painful and lingering, depending on the quantity consumed and the species consuming the 1080. Reptiles, for instance, due to their slow metabolic rate, can take weeks to die.

1080’s knock-on effects are well documented. Animals that consume the carrion of bait victims are also at risk of poisoning.  Victims of this 'by-kill' affect include mammals such as quolls and sundry marsupial carnivores, birds of prey such as hawks and eagles and of course myriad insect eating creatures that feed on the bugs that aid the decomposition of baited animals.

Eastern Quoll: one of many threatened species prone to feed on contaminated carrion

1080 is also toxic to the human mammal and unlike native mammals we do not possess any level of tolerance born of consuming trace amounts of Fluoroacetate in our everyday diets. Symptoms of 1080 poisoning include convulsions, vomiting, cardiac failure and respiratory failure. Sublethal doses can cause damage to organs including heart, liver, lungs, testes and kidneys. Organs with high metabolic demands (heart, testes) are the most affected.

While I suspect the Greens will claim desperate times call for a regrettable hardening of the heart to embrace desperate measures in the fight against the ever-present and growing feral threat, to me there is one issue that should be considered above all others before embracing the use of a poison. 

How readily available and how effective is its antidote?

Horse poisoned by 1080, for which there is no antidote

There is no antidote to 1080 poisoning – none, zip, nada – and the only treatment consists of maintaining life support in the hope the poison expires before the patient. 

One could be forgiven for thinking this fact alone would render 1080’s use in the environment anathema to the Greens and so one is left wondering why the apparent policy back-flip?

The answer, I believe, lies in a cynical strategic objective born of sheer political desperation.

The Greens, across the country, have failed to attract the support they desperately need and crave. In fact they are losing relevance in a world they grow increasingly out of touch with. While the Greens dogmatically oppose hunting in all its forms, increasing numbers of Australians are looking at it with open eyes. 

The popularity of lifestyle programs such as Gourmet Farmer and River Cottage has inspired Australians with a new appreciation for the legitimate role hunting plays in the pursuit of a simpler, grass-roots lifestyle. This includes the responsible and ethical harvest of free-range organic meat.

Unwilling to compromise increasingly unpopular ideals, the Greens are desperate to develop a new support base. Enter the rural farming community, the support of which in the past, Greens policy has largely alienated.

Plagued by the damage wrought by feral animals which, were it not for the Greens’ hoplophobic hatred of firearms, might be checked, at least to some extent, by conservation hunting, farmers have ever suffered for the Greens' dogmatic anti-hunting, anti-baiting disinformation campaigns.

It is my belief that by conceding the point on 1080 baiting as a control measure, they hope to both garner new support among desperate farming communities, while at the same time sealing hunting’s fate in a characteristically Machiavellian manner.

The Greens' new position that baiting is a realistic strategy in the fight against the feral menace adds weight to their claim that conservation hunting is ineffective compared to measures such as 1080 and therefore completely unnecessary. Thus they strike a blow for their true enemy, which is not hunting, but rather the guns and bows employed in its pursuit.

If the ownership of ‘weapons’ no longer has a responsible, practical justification, it’s one more nail in the coffin of the “legitimate reason for ownership” incumbent upon every firearms licence applicant to demonstrate. 

Should recreational hunting/vermin control be undermined as a legitimate reason for firearms ownership, the use of poisons stands to increase as governments of the day become more desperate for solutions to a problem that can only be compounded for want of volunteer conservation hunters’ efforts.

Poisoned deer rots in stream-bed

Notices will increasingly appear in the media and nailed to posts warning the public that 1080 baiting is in progress. As a result, the impetus to take-up hunting will be undermined and along with it the desire to apply for the relevant licences and permits as public larder resources such as venison, chevon and pork are robbed of the de facto organic certification they currently enjoy as wild foods.

Voila, one cynical concession stands to unlock the potential of a previously hostile and largely untapped support base, while simultaneously undermining growing public appreciation for the benefits of hunting and responsible firearms ownership.

Of course I have no evidence to support any of it; no leaked memo, no quiet word or email from a disgruntled senior Greens apparatchik. All I have is the sudden reversal of the Greens’ previously absolute opposition to the use of 1080 in any form for any purpose, and a mildly Machiavellian mind of my own, which I choose to turn to the light side of the force.

Regardless of whether my suspicions are correct, and aside even from the question of its humaneness, the fact remains there is no antidote to Sodium fluoroacetate poisoning. I cannot help but wonder if the public would support the Greens' push to introduce yet more poison into public environments and catchments, if they knew what a very final poison 1080 is.

Anyway, I’ll get outaya way now...

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