Thread: Who supports the Rescue Helicopter

LETTER SENT TO MANAGER OF OTAGO RESCUE HELICOPTER TRUST - 29 Sept. 2016

This was copied to me and is posted here with the author's permission.

"Dear Mr. Franklin,

I am a 65 yr old outdoorsman with six adult children, all of whom donate to the Rescue Helicopter Trusts all over New Zealand, as I have instilled in them the absolute need to support such a service. I also was in Search and Rescue for 25 years.

As you no doubt realize, if public funding was not there such a service could not continue, but to endanger the users of your service by coating the inside and outside of a Rescue machine with toxic 1080 dust is suicide I believe !

"Can’t happen" you say? Well listen to this :

Some 15 years ago at the local Omaka airport I had a friend (Ernest Wooding) who was grazing sheep each night on the runway and overnight parking area, with the Authority's blessing.

A visiting plane had been dropping 1080 carrot bait on Molesworth (I believe) and parked overnight on the grass next to the hangar.

The owner had left really early and when Ernest went to shift his sheep he found at least a dozen ewes dead around the plane's park and several other sick sheep, all of which had a green dye in their wool. He contacted the local authorities and ascertained that the plane had not been thoroughly cleaned and that there was nothing they could do about it as it had gone !

He tried to lay charges and recover his losses (all ewes sub-lethally poisoned eventually aborted their lambs too ) but was unsuccessful.

This was all printed in the local paper as well !

I put it to you that this dust is all through the inside and outside of this machine and that it would be impossible to clean every minute surface (especially inside the machine, under seats, lockers, engine cavity etc), and that by not doing so you are endangering the General Public.

I have observed several aerial 1080 operations and you cannot tell me that dust does not go everywhere. ( I have heaps of video and stills showing it. )

And I know of two guys ( both deceased very prematurely ) who never wore protection when filling hoppers, mixing carrot bait etc.

I can also name four people who have serious health issues after being accidentally overflown by hoppers dispensing 1080.

I would appreciate your justifying this use of the Rescue Helicopter and explaining just how the machine cannot be contaminated !

Sincerely,

Lloyd Hanson "

Photo by Carol Sawyer - HeliOtago BK117 ( part of air ambulance fleet ) at Manapouri, Kepler Mountains 1080 operation , September, 2016