October 19, 2020
1080 on the agenda for Coromandel lunch
Waikato regional councillors hoping for a peaceful break after their meeting in Coromandel will have to put up with an anti-1080 protest from locals.
A march has been organised from the Thames District Council offices down to the offices of Te Ara Hou Kennedy Bay Ltd, the company that has been given a $400,000 contract for aerial 1080 drops across the northern part of the peninsula.
The hīkoi then heads for Peppertree Restaurant where councillors are booked in for lunch.
Sally Harrison from Harataunga-Kennedy Bay says the drops were supposed to be this month, but because of COVID restrictions were put off until next year.
That time should be used to look at the alternatives the community is putting up, including more funding for trapping, which she says has been effective in keeping possums, rats and stoats off her own bush block.
"As far as I’m concerned and many of the other people that don't support 1080 here which I would say is 95 percent of the people, we are doing our best to come up with an alternative to present to Waikato Regional Council and DOC to prevent any drops of 1080 in our ngahere," Ms Harrison says.
Sally Harrison says Te Ara Hou claims to have landowner permission for the drops, but maps included in its application include several Māori-owned blocks for which not consent can have been granted.
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