Eco-terror has no place here

If I had to pick the nutter who wrote the letter, spelling mistakes and all, I would pick an ecological extremist over a hunting extremist.

IT'S a case of the dreaded white powder in the mail.

The powder in the envelope scenario became vogue in 2008-2009, with scares at the Wellington and Canberra parliaments.

But this one takes a big step further into terrorism: a specific threat. It's like something out of an action movie: the evil terrorist in the blue-tinted glasses phoning in a bomb threat.

Over the time I've been with the Times-Age (nearly two years), I've seen a lot of 1080-related correspondence. I've even had possum hunters in my office, people who are genuinely making a living from what they do, and in despair because their livelihood is under threat. I've even helped some, in pointing them in the right direction towards making submissions.

I've also had correspondence from the ecological lobby, with their basis that 1080 is a poison that threatens our flora and fauna, plus dogs, and perhaps even ourselves.

If I had to pick the nutter who wrote the letter, spelling mistakes and all, I would pick an ecological extremist over a hunting extremist. I grant you I am drawing a massive generalisation here, but I would hope hunters are pragmatic people who respect their territory and respect their community.

Eco-terrorism is historically entrenched. Animal rights groups in England and Europe are capable of ruthless violence and property destruction, although I would imagine they would baulk at poisoning. Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd, who are not eco-terrorists, are effective at disrupting operations they don't agree with.

On a lesser scale, I'm pretty sure a hunter wouldn't climb up a 500-year-old kauri and camp out in a hammock for days on end.

In our paper today, we explore what our grocery stores are doing, with infant formula, because it is a matter of fact they are taking steps as precautions. It's an inconvenience to the public and it is important we record it and report it, to let people know.

But in terms of trying to report on what an eco-terrorist's motive is, I'm not inclined to give them much time of day. In all likelihood, it's a loner on a lonely mission, furious they have no influence over the world. It's precisely the description of terrorism.