The Department of Conservation is investigating the death of four Hector’s dolphins on South Island beaches. DoC said it is too early to say what caused the deaths. The four dead beachcast dolphins were found in the second half of November, with three of them found over the past week. A member of the public found the body of a Hector’s dolphin calf on November 27 at Marfells Beach in South Marlborough, and reported it the next day.

On November 28, an adult dolphin was found decomposing on a beach just north of Hokitika.

There have being 3 reported body discovery for 1 August – 31 July according to Doc own data base.

The third dolphin discovery was made on November 30 at Ōkārito on the West Coast.

Due to the alleged level of decomposition on two of the carcasses, they had been frozen and would be examined later in the month. The third was fresh enough to send chilled and was “likely” to be examined soon.

A November 28 Doc project to eradicate pests from South Westland resulted in the death of over 400 karoro and a dog. The $45 million project to eliminate possums, rats and stoats from 100,000 hectares of South Westland is part of the country’s goal of being predator free by 2050. A project to eradicate pests from South Westland has resulted in the death of over 400 karoro and a dog. The $45 million project to eliminate possums, rats and stoats from 100,000 hectares of South Westland is part of the country’s goal of being predator free by 2050.  Zero Invasive Predators’ (ZIP),who carried out the operation, said the number of dead birds was high but “appeared” to be localised to the Waiau River and nearby coast, said the statement. The pesticide teams were currently working on a block in South Ōkārito, just north of Franz Josef Glacier.

“Some of these bait stations will be baited using brodifacoum. Brodifacoum is the most proven tool to achieve elimination of rats“. However, a three-year ban would have to be imposed for commercial hunting in the areas where brodifacoum has been used. The ban would not apply to recreational hunters, but consuming meat from animals caught in the area was not recommended. The online version appears to have being edited as the google entry does not match the story actually filed which on the google search engine menu reads “an ambitious plan” as opposed to “some” as appears in the final edit.

Brodifacoum is a highly lethal 4-hydroxycoumarin vitamin K antagonist anticoagulant poison. In recent years, it has become one of the world’s most widely used pesticides. The journal of US military medicine not Brodifacoum is long lasting and works it way into the food chain.

In late November 2019 680 rats washed up on a Westport beach two test results one by pro 1080 and one by DOC were as dubious as largely due to what thy did not test for. A rumour mentioned on social media claims a farmer using brodifacoum-based rat poison. When rats are poisoned with anticoagulant poisons, they often seek water before dying.

DoC did not test for brodifacoum just 1080: New paper reports noted “DoC has not used any other toxins such as brodifacoum in adjacent areas (DoC operations very rarely use this toxin on the mainland), so has not tested for the presence of other toxin.” Questions were asked why test results were not available for a crayfish collected by DoC workers at the same time the rat and weka bodies were taken. DoC did not test the crayfish, saying crayfish “are not known to scavenge rats”. It also didn’t test any fish or marine life “… their secondary poisoning was considered very unlikely and it was not a priority to try and determine the cause of death for these species.” DoC said all the “carcasses had been disposed of and could not be tested further”.