sodium fluoroacetate

Toxin-laced rat carcass baits for stoat elimination

Stoats are implicated in the severe decline of certain iconic endemic species in New Zealand. Stoats are notoriously difficult to control, as they are highly cryptic and often neophobic around control techniques such as traps and poison baits in tunnels. Stoats are often killed through secondary poisoning in both aerial and hand-lay operations targeting other mammalian pests. We prototype trialled a novel approach to poisoning of stoats: wild-caught ship rats that had consumed (and subsequently died from) a lethal dose of 1080 cereal baits in a captive facility.

The effects of beech masts and 1080 pest control on South Island robins (Petroica australis)

We assessed the effect of aerial 1080 control of possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), ship rats (Rattus rattus) and stoats (Mustela erminea) on the survival and nest success of South Island robins (Petroica australis) at Tennyson Inlet, Marlborough Sounds, from 2012–2017. Cereal baits containing 1080 were applied in 2013 when rat and stoat numbers were low, and again in 2014 after a beech mast when rat numbers were high. Survival rates of 134 banded adult South Island (SI) robins and 209 SI robin nests were monitored.

Costs and benefits of aerial 1080 operations to Western weka (Gallirallus australis australis)

The impact of aerially applied 1080 poison on a Western weka (Gallirallus australis australis) population was assessed at Tennyson Inlet, Marlborough Sounds, between September 2010 and June 2016. We estimated mortality and the incidence of sublethal poisoning as a direct consequence of two aerial 1080 operations and examined the differences in nest success, chick survivorship and adult survivorship. Most weka in the treated block appear to have been sublethally poisoned but only one of 58 (1.8%) radio-tagged weka died as a direct consequence of 1080 application.

Effects on South Island robins (Petroica australis) from pest control using aerially applied 1080 poison

New Zealand robins are thought to be vulnerable to poisoning by sodium fluoroacetate (1080), because individual birds found dead after aerial pest control operations have tested positive for 1080. We investigated the impacts of an aerial 1080 operation (preceded by non-toxic prefeeding) to control brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) on the survival and breeding success of a robin population at Silver Peaks, Dunedin environs, South Island, New Zealand. We monitored the survival of individual marked robins and their nesting success before and after the 1080 application.