Family poisoned after eating wild boar

[Janne]

I would prefer to read the toxicology report.
Nice65, botulisn is a nasty b$tch.
Think muscle paralysis/weakness.

 

[lou1661]

I would prefer to read the toxicology report.
Nice65, botulisn is a nasty b$tch.
Think muscle paralysis/weakness.

So would I, However it is not available, and the day after that video was released the Health board released a statement that it was not Botulism.

Hopefully It has no long term impact on the family.

 

[Nice65]

Nice65, botulisn is a nasty b$tch.
Think muscle paralysis/weakness.

Exactly.

These people were not paralysed or weak, they were in restraints due to the convulsions.

 

[C_Claycomb]

1080 poison, Sodium fluoroacetate?
Symptoms vomiting and convulsions, and the stuff gets dumped around the NZ bush.

 

[Nice65]

1080 poison, Sodium fluoroacetate?
Symptoms vomiting and convulsions, and the stuff gets dumped around the NZ bush.

Yep.

 

[Janne]

How did they all ingest it?

 

[Nice65]

How did they all ingest it?

From the carcass of a boar. There's a great deal of information about its usage, aerial delivery resulting in areas of concentration, and it's administered to poison species that are then eaten by predators who are also poisoned. A boar is a foraging creature that'll eat mostly anything. If it ate a large amount of poison and the family then ate the boar then it would explain the fraud and conspiracy, and hesitation by the NZ government to reveal the facts, instead blaming a disease with completely the opposite physical effects to those reported by the doctors.

 

[Janne]

Interesting.
I understand the hugely negative impact of the boar on nature, I read what they do in Sweden, but using poison......

 

[Nice65]

Interesting.
I understand the hugely negative impact of the boar on nature, I read what they do in Sweden, but using poison......

The poison is dropped to kill invading rodents that decimate the native bird population, or kill stoats that might feed on mice, rabbits etc, not to kill boar. But it's indiscriminate, as is the method of application. There's a ton of info if you google it.

 

[Toddy]

I've been reading up on it. We had a problem with rats in the compost bins last year, and in the end poisoned bait was the only thing that stopped them. I hated doing it, but they're sleekit wee blighters and the traps weren't catching them. So we poisoned them.
It took it's time though, and I wondered if this stuff would be any more effective.

I don't think there's any easy answer when an entire country is trying to wipe out non native pest species though.

Caveat diner I suppose.

M

 

[Janne]

The poison is dropped to kill invading rodents that decimate the native bird population, or kill stoats that might feed on mice, rabbits etc, not to kill boar. But it's indiscriminate, as is the method of application. There's a ton of info if you google it.

I understand why and how, but think it is criminal.
That is my point. Poisoning nature deliberately.

There is another way. Open season, or open season with a reward for each killed animal.

 

[Nice65]

I understand why and how, but think it is criminal.
That is my point. Poisoning nature deliberately.

There is another way. Open season, or open season with a reward for each killed animal.

I don't think rat, mouse, possum, and stoat hunting is going to catch on.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Possums are a major target, and they have open season on those already. The bounty was tried and apparently some hunters then spread possums so as to have a local population to sustainably harvest.
http://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/pests-and-threats/methods-of-control/possum-fur-recovery-and-bounties/

I am in agreement with Nice65. The use of 1080 and brodifacoum, especially by aerial dispersion, is not popular with a great many people in NZ and is something that is not in keeping with the image of pristine natural beauty that the NZ government and tourist board wish to project to the world. If one of these poisons were responsible for this families illness, there is ample reason for cover up. The news is stating that 1080 and botulism have been tested for and ruled out, but it is jolly strange all the same!

 

[santaman2000]

I don't think rat, mouse, possum, and stoat hunting is going to catch on.

Even if it catches on I doubt hunting will make much of a dent in rodent species.

Possums are a major target, and they have open season on those already. The bounty was tried and apparently some hunters then spread possums so as to have a local population to sustainably harvest.
http://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/pests-and-threats/methods-of-control/possum-fur-recovery-and-bounties/

I am in agreement with Nice65. The use of 1080 and brodifacoum, especially by aerial dispersion, is not popular with a great many people in NZ and is something that is not in keeping with the image of pristine natural beauty that the NZ government and tourist board wish to project to the world. If one of these poisons were responsible for this families illness, there is ample reason for cover up. The news is stating that 1080 and botulism have been tested for and ruled out, but it is jolly strange all the same!

It looks like they're between a rock and a hard place. No, poisoning isn't in keeping with that natural image; but neither is a large presence of an invasive species.

 

[Janne]

I don't think rat, mouse, possum, and stoat hunting is going to catch on.

Traps. Poison I do not like, have never used.

Boar is an excellent meat. Pity to not use it.
Makes wonderful food!

Best Szegedin goulash ever! And marinated on a grill......
Boar chops in a wild mushroom sauce.......

 

[daveO]

I've been reading up on it. We had a problem with rats in the compost bins last year, and in the end poisoned bait was the only thing that stopped them. I hated doing it, but they're sleekit wee blighters and the traps weren't catching them. So we poisoned them.
It took it's time though, and I wondered if this stuff would be any more effective.

I don't think there's any easy answer when an entire country is trying to wipe out non native pest species though.

Caveat diner I suppose.

M

Better to prevent access to the bins and only compost food that doesn't attract rats if you can. Studies of predatory birds like owls show that they're really suffering from second hand poisoning. I've taken to shooting the rats in my garden as they're causing so much damage. I don't want to stop feeding the birds and the spilled seed is bringing them in.

If you want a laugh about stoat trapping though look at Orkney. Animal rights campaigners prevented trapping of stoats during the breeding season because stopping them breeding was cruel. The inevitable population boom is having a huge effect on rare birds now which seems a bit more of a pressing concern, to most logical people anyway.

 

[Toddy]

It frustrated me no end. Our gardens are Lanarkshire blue clay. Brilliant stuff if you want pottery, or bricks, and very fertile, but a pain in the neck unless you keep the soil open with organic debris.
So, I compost everything. It's a mostly vegetarian household, so even the scraps are safely compostable. Looking at the debris the rats worked through, they were mostly eating vegetable and fruit peelings, and we think they were nesting in the bins too.

We tried traps, but they just didn't work, so we totally emptied the bins and dug most of the stuff that came out into the gardens. That still left the layers of too fresh uncomposted stuff though, and we were pretty sure that at least one rat was back. So we bought the bait traps and poisoned them.

I gave away the airpistol and rifle that we had in the house; just too much bother to organise licences for guns that hadn't been used in ages, so shooting the rats wasn't an option.

I store bird food in metal buckets with tight fitting clip on lids, so there's no real food available for the rats. The bird feeders are cleaned up beneath very thoroughly by pigeons so there really isn't any debris lying around either.

Tbh, I think they found the compost bins comfortable more than anything. They're out of the weather, dark and peaceful, generally a little warmer than the woods alongside, and there were food scraps to munch.
The Council provides rolls of composting bags for food and garden waste, and empties the bin for them regularly. I didn't use our 'red' bin, but I do bag up scraps I think the rats might like and they go in the bin now. Having thrown out the last of my Christmas flowers into the compost bin just the other day though, I think the rats are back even though there's no food for them. So, I'm looking at poison again.

I do take your point about cats, raptors, etc., but I really, really do not want rats staying around. I'm pretty sure that with the burn just the other side of the path from our back fence that they'll wander through the garden anyway, but I don't want them living in it, iimmc ? The poison we used last time said that it dissipated pdq once eaten, so, we'll see. It didn't seem to be terribly effective at first though, and we had to keep baiting the 'stations' for a couple of weeks.

I want a cat. Himself says I'm not having another cat, but we've had mice and rats really for the first time since we moved here, and I had a kitten given to me just six weeks after we moved in. This is the longest period in my life when I haven't had a moggie.

I want a big moggie. I want a Maine Coon of a moggie and I don't want rats.
Right enough, I don't want to poison owls, or foxes, or hedgehogs, etc., either.

M

 

[santaman2000]

If you can't have a cat, get some snakes. They're much more successful at hunting rats than cats anyway.

 

[daveO]

I wrap the compost bins here with several layers of chicken wire which has helped. Before I knew there where rats around I found a nest in one bin that was full and left for a few weeks to do its stuff. I was turning the contents and suddenly there were baby rats running everywhere. The dog thought it was christmas. Now I keep them wrapped up tight. The garden waste only bins are just open pallet types and I get all sorts in there. Snakes, slow worms, nesting bees and god only knows what else. As long as it isnt rats I dont mind.

 

[Toddy]

....yeah, but y'know, it's perishing cold here just now, and the native snakes are only active for a few months of the year. Grass-snakes are too wee to take on a rat, and I don't think an adder would anyway, even large ones only reach a couple of feet long. Besides, adders are poisonous and their bite can be nasty.

I'm sure someone wrote about rats eating over-wintering snakes in their compost bin.

I'm also sure your idea has merit santaman2000, but you live in an entirely different climate to me, so while very practical where you are, probably not effective here.

M