SPCA jumps the shark

The Herald reports:

The SPCA is calling for a ban on pest control poison 1080 over concerns about animal welfare.
In a statement issued this week, the charity said it was “deeply concerned” over the use of 1080, and the use of poisons to kill animals due to the level of suffering they caused.
Environmental organisation Forest & Bird has called the SPCA’s position “naive”, and one that would lead to “cruel deaths and extinctions” of native birds.
Sodium fluoroacetate, more commonly known as 1080, is a poison, mixed into baits, and used to control the numbers of a range of mammalian species, particularly possums and rats.

The SPCA called for a greater emphasis on finding ways for species that could not be completely removed to co-exist with native birds, and for finding more humane methods of pest control.

This is real nutty stuff from the SPCA.

Without 1080, tens of millions of native birds will get ripped to pieces and eaten by stoats, rats and possums. That isn’t particularly humane either.

Forest & Bird chief executive Kevin Hague said the SPCA’s position showed a “naïve failure” to understand how nature works in the wild, and they would be seeking a meeting with the organisation to discuss its position.

“Their position reflects their history of caring for domesticated animals such as cats and dogs, without understanding the needs of New Zealand’s native animals and ecosystems.

“While the idea of stoats and rats peacefully coexisting with native birds sounds great, the reality is that an estimated 25 million native birds, eggs and chicks are cruelly eaten alive by introduced predators every year in New Zealand.

“This is the terrible death that countless native animals across New Zealand suffer every night.

“The SPCA’s position on 1080 is a blow to their credibility. It’s sad to see them promoting flawed logic whose outcome is the extinction through being eaten alive of treasured animals like our kiwi, kereru and kokako.

Forest & Bird are correct on this.

The SPCA seems to be saying it is better to have entire species of native birds go extinct, rather than poison a single rat or stoat.