Possum hunter rescued after ingesting cyanide

A Royal New Zealand Air Force Iroquois helicopter winched the man to safety. Photo / RNZAF

The air force was called in to help rescue a possum hunter working for the Department of Conservation who fell ill after apparently ingesting cyanide paste in Whirinaki Forest Park in the central North Island overnight.

Rotorua police were notified that the man was ill and in the park, 90km southeast of Rotorua, around 7pm last night.

A search and rescue operation by Rotorua police search and rescue, volunteers and Department of Conservation staff was launched to find the man and get him first aid.

The searchers tramped for several hours into the bush to find the man, while ambulance staff waited at the end of the road nearest the scene.

The man was located around 12.30am.

He was so ill he was unable to walk, and the extremely difficult terrain precluded him being stretchered to the road.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force was contacted and a helicopter arrived about 2.30am.

The weather prevented the man from being airlifted until 3am.

He was then transported by ambulance to Rotorua Hospital, where he remained in a stable condition today.

A Department of Conservation spokesman told Radio New Zealand that the man was on a monitoring mission which didn't involve the use of cyanide.

The man would probably have had to pick up and eat cyanide pellets used as rat poison to become ill from contact with it.

DOC would investigate whether the man's illness was a result of cyanide poisoning, and if so, how he came into contact with it.

- NZPA