Thread: TB control in Molesworth

The Last time I was up the Leatham there was a sign advising of the drop at the end of the road.

So far as I am aware the Deer repellent is Blood and Bone, I believe they are trying to target the high number of wild cats in the area as well.

Originally Posted by kukuwai

@Tahr

Be sure to post up their response.
Will be interesting to see the results.
Hopefully the repellant is awesome !!

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No reply from OSPRI.
I have re-emailed them.
If they don't reply I will make an OIA request. Not to beat them up, but to hopefully get some positive/encouraging results about low deer mortality and the number and fate of the collared deer.

Great stuff @Tahr

If this turns out to be correct

Originally Posted by Moutere

Gossip is that all 100 collared deer were alive after the toxic drop.
Gossip is all 100 collared possum were dead after the toxic drop.

The new repellent sounds like a promising turn for the better in regard to deer by kill.

And this also then that is a win win for all.

Originally Posted by w1dgit

So far as I am aware the Deer repellent is Blood and Bone, I believe they are trying to target the high number of wild cats in the area as well.

Will be very interested in what they have to say.

Thanks for pursuing it !!

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Originally Posted by kukuwai

Great stuff @Tahr

If this turns out to be correct


And this also then that is a win win for all.



Will be very interested in what they have to say.

Thanks for pursuing it !!

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They replied today saying that my inquiry has been passed onto the vector control team to answer.

So I received a call from OSPRI today.

There were 50 'possums and 50 deer radio collared.
No conclusive results to hand yet but they will let me know the final outcome in a couple of weeks.

They said that the interim results are looking very positive.

They will know exactly how many have not or have died from the poison. The ones with the collars on are guaranteed to die and left to rot.

Thank you Tahr,
Appreciate your efforts.
CheersCliff

Thanks @Tahr, very interested to see the data. Hopefully they will release it

Have heard through people being in there and others the deer have survived quite well. Last report said reasonable numbers but also in that particular block there were dead animals. All stags by the sound. This was in the last couple of weeks. Reading the molesworth site, they are hitting it again in October/November. No mention if repellent will be used. Possums this time and deer next? Are we /were we being let along with a false sense of security so to speak with the first application. Only to have the rug pulled second time around?

No, dig a little further and you’ll see it is only Yarra and five mile being treated in September/October.

Originally Posted by Puddleduk

They will know exactly how many have not or have died from the poison. The ones with the collars on are guaranteed to die and left to rot.

Trying to understand your reasoning here. Does wearing a collar increase risk to the animal more than ones without collars? How did you arrive at that conclusion. Is there research we are unaware of? I would imagine that anything that dies from 1080 would be left to rot. I for one wouldn't want it

The collars won't be cheap and will be recovered from the survivors of the 1080 by shooting them. The collared deer that sucumbed to 1080 won't have to be shot obviously.

They might leave the collared deer to mob up as “Judas”. Lead them directly to mobs.

Have been following this thread with interest and some disbelief at some of the ideas/opinions expressed here.
I make the following observations bearing in mind that my late father worked as a deer culler in the Molesworth/ St James area, Bill Chisholm was one of his bosses. His stories of the deer and rabbit numbers were hard to believe. We don't want to go there again. But I digress.
I have been lucky enough to have accessed the Molesworth station since when Bill Chisholm was manager right through to Jim Ward's present tenure. While there have always been modest numbers of deer and other species present, their numbers were reasonably well controlled due to farm management practices of the time. The idea was to be a pofitable farm after-all. Since Jim took over, management guidelines have changed under the guidance of DOC policy. I think that while Jim was happy to see deer about even he would have been concerned at the way deer numbers were increasing
While he accepted the continued use of 1080 as neccessary ( it has been used on the station for years ) for Tb vector control, I know from personal conversation with him, he was astounded/devastated at the numbers of deer deaths associated with the 2017 operation. Having spoken with a member of the OSPRI team I feel that he was genuinly aghast of the outcome.
I must state that I am opposed to the indiscriminant aerial application of 1080 over any land, but I am also inclined to the view that in all probability recreational hunters are not going to sufficiently control deer numbers on this station while it is operatingas a viable farm unit. This will in turn lead to the possibility of some form of aerial control in the future. I say this because of the current mindset of most hunters to only take a trophystag and maybe a bit of meat, while not doing a bit of population control by taking a hind or two out of the mix.
As long as the station operates as a stock farm it must do so to make a profit. While cattle are present Tb must also be controlled, it's an oprational requirement. I feel that OSPRI are making a genuine attempt to mitigate deer by-kill by trialing deer repellant and differant sowing rates of poison baits.
Again, I am strongly opposed to 1080 use but we've got to make the best of a bad situation.
We as hunters have great fortune to be able to access this beutiful part of the country in the pursuit of game but we also have an obligation to actively help control the animal population, failure to do so will only end badly for us. Many on here will remember the days of helicopter 'gunships' in the 60's-80's. We as a group are not the only ones with a vested interest in this area and we arn't exactly 'flavour of the month' so we need to show a bit co-operation with the powers that be.
That's some of my views. Let the flaming begin.

Well said @woods223. Very interesting to hear from someone with first-hand knowledge. And also an interesting insight into the mindset of station management.