1080 poison the GOOD news
Last issue we reported that the Victorian Government had changed the rules to allow deadly 1080 poison to be sold from farmers’ stores around the state. The purchaser just had to show they’d done a half-day handler’s course and they could then buy a truck load. There’s to be very little monitoring of where and how it’s used after that (whacko, if you’re a red-neck loonie!).
Well, the latest spanner in the works is that rural stores are shying away from handling the stuff because of the cost of becoming an accredited handler and stockist. Landmark, the state’s largest rural merchandise store, said it wouldn’t be touching the stuff as it wouldn’t make a profit (due to the safety requirements needed). So far, only two stores have gained the OK to sell 1080, in Omeo and Ballarat.
The Victorian Farmers Federation chair, Geoff Kendell, said that if farmers can’t get hold of the poison “the environment will suffer”.
Jill / Weekly Times
PS The 1080 aerial baiting trials being done beyond Swifts Creek were a classic stuff up. The 1,000 or so baits dropped from the air were under-dosed. This means dogs would have just become sick and learnt to be bait-shy. But other small meat-eating critters could have died. So they had to do it all again! Sheesh!