This Petition is a vote of NO CONFIDENCE in the West Coast Regional Council of New Zealand, because of its total disregard for the people of the West Coast including its ratepayers, who are against the use of 1080 poison in all its forms. ( A survey was done in Westland district which found 93% of people surveyed were againt the continued use of 1080 poison). We live in fear of the health impact of this toxin in our lives, losing our dogs, being unable to hunt or consume wild foods, drink our water or enjoy our lives on the Coast. Two women from Reefton were recently made very ill from a 1080 drop and were ignored in the first instance by the Authorities and it was deemed it was their fault ! This is now proven to be wrong. They also have only just discovered Trout can not be eaten as they may contain dangerous levels of 1080 poison. It took 60 years of dropping 1080 before they looked into this - What else are they not telling us?
West Coast Regional Council were 'outed' recently over their secret investment of half a million dollars of your money in a company to manufacture 1080 in Rolleston, New Zealand. West Coast Regional Council already own a company, VCS, which 'wins' contracts to assist and manage the aerial distribution of 1080 poison and profits from this activity.
West Coast Regional Council grant these consents, and they stand to make even more money by now manufacturing this poison. What is their incentive to be objective when granting consents?
We demand an immediate stop to all 1080 drops consented by the West Coast Regional Council , in the West Coast, as we believe they are not competant or independant or qualified enough to make these decisions. We also demand an independant investigation, with community representatives into its granting of 1080 consents where they obviously have profited. There have been several recently granted consents and variations, that have been approved 'behind closed doors' without valid justification.
The Buller North drop is too close to hundreds of people homes, and will be in our water. We will also have to travel over 50km to take our dogs safely for a walk, or use the bush recreationally. Our requests for a safe distance/dog area have been ignored.
They cannot be trusted.
UPDATE: They have just been outed again - it turns out $1.9 million has been invested ! The CEO must go !
In New Zealand we have gone beyond pest control and we are now in the middle of a huge experiment.
