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The haul of 1080 poison stolen from Westport on Thursday may be the work of the West Coast's illegal drug growers wanting to kill possums with a taste for marijuana.
Community and Public Health medical officer Vern Newcombe, of Greymouth, proposed the theory amid concerns the 100kg of pellets taken from Target Pest Contracting could be dropped into a public water supply, perhaps as an anti-1080 protest.
Mr Newcombe said the Buller District Council would probably monitor the town's reservoir, although he did not believe the theft was the work of an anti-1080 protester.
Dope growers, he said, would do anything to protect their cannabis plots from being destroyed by possums, which reportedly were a real problem.
"Apparently they have a liking for the weed."
The poison can only be bought by organisations with an approved operator's ticket. "I don't think the water supplies are at risk," Mr Newcombe said. "You can't rule out that it may be an anti-group, but I don't think so. Knowing the anti-groups on the coast, they wouldn't be that silly."
- NZPA
