Poison & traps

**nkosi** · 03-05-2015, 04:08

To Gforce, Jackal.204 & others involved in vermin/feral control:

Do you guys ever use poison & or traps or have you witnessed farmers doing so?

The reason I ask is because over here in Aus the authorities and many farmers use poison (1080 mostly) to get rid of feral animals.

A number of hunters & or farmers also trap for feral pigs & then destroy the animal later - a steel cage like trap.

I was flabbergasted to learn of the poisoning, as I am totally against it due to the other non target species it kills. Of course it is easy for me to say as I am not losing grazing & or live stock to these feral animals and it is obviously effective under the right conditions.

I belong to a voluntary group that is involved with feral animal control and we shoot feral goats, pigs, dogs, rabbits etc. and sometimes use traps, but not poison, but when we go into areas where 1080 has been used the devastation to wild life is terrible & we find dead carcasses of everything, from mammals to birds & everything in between.

The Aussies have asked me whether or not we poisoned back home. I was under the impression that we did not, but I am not sure if it was/is used in SA & do not remember anyone discussing it, but as I was only a twice a year biltong hunter living on the South Coast of KZN I may not have been paying attention.

**Ds J** · 03-05-2015, 06:39

It happens, often by desperate farmers who try to protect their livestock from predators.

**SBB** · 03-05-2015, 10:46

Every other farm I hunt on seems to be laced with temic. My tracking dog is now relegated to a bakkie dog and Atropene lives in the cooler box. Sad.

**Lian** · 03-05-2015, 10:57

surely poisoning will effect the rest of the environment too? carrion birds/animals, etc.

**gertjie87** · 03-05-2015, 11:00

Gets used way more than it should.

**Springer** · 03-05-2015, 13:34

Originally Posted by SBB

Every other farm I hunt on seems to be laced with temic. My tracking dog is now relegated to a bakkie dog and Atropene lives in the cooler box. Sad.

Surely if you arrive on a farm to hunt with your dog, the farmer should advise against it due to the fact that he knows about the use of poison? I would have a lot to say if anything happened and I wasn't warned.

**G-force** · 03-05-2015, 19:04

Some SA farmers do still use poison,some "responsibly" and others put it out and forget about it.I am not a fan of poison at all.We do use "valhokke" that get monitored daily.Others will use gintraps which can be very effective for skelm jackals.

**krieger** · 03-05-2015, 19:46

Here in west Texas in the 1970's farmers were using 1080 to go after coyotes. They would put 1080 crystals in shotgun shells loaded into basically a foot triggered booby trap.

After several farmers killed themselves they quit doing it. 2 farms down from my Opa's a farmer's 7 year old daughter stepped on one. She died painfully with a blown off foot. She died a horrible death.

The father was 100% responsible for his daughters death.

**nkosi** · 03-05-2015, 23:49

Thanks for the replies so far guys.

Here in Aus the 1080 poisoning programme by the authorities is on an industrial scale, with a lot of it being done by 'aerial baiting' where a chopper or light aeroplane distributes poisoned baits over large areas. Most of the farmers do it from vehicles, unless they are very rich or can get some co-operation from neighbouring farms to split the bill for aerial baiting.

I suppose with the massive size of the country and small population, it will always be seen as an option (7 682 300 km2 for Aus vs 1 214 470 km2 for SA - nearly 7 times bigger).

I hate poisoning in any form though, but, as I said before, it is easy for me to say when I am not the one losing revenue because of feral animals. You have to wonder about the long term effects on the ecology though.

**SBB** · 04-05-2015, 06:16

Originally Posted by Springer

Surely if you arrive on a farm to hunt with your dog, the farmer should advise against it due to the fact that he knows about the use of poison? I would have a lot to say if anything happened and I wasn't warned.

We are forewarned. But it's difficult.....neighbors use poison and farm next door doesn't...that piece of meat easily moves next door.....and unfortunately these farms normally have good animals....probably due to no predation.