West Coast 1080 protest: Not enough evidence to lay charges

The Kahurangi National Park 1080 drop is the largest operation in DOC's 2016 national Battle for our Birds programme.

Westport police say they do not have enough evidence to lay charges over allegations 1080 protesters damaged a Department of Conservation (DOC) staff member's car.

Sergeant Malcolm Lamont said a nail had been stuck into a tyre and DOC had named a 1080 protester as the offender.

He was still investigating the incident but so far there was insufficient evidence to lay charges.

DOC Buller operations manager Bob Dickson told The Press yesterday that staff had been threatened and abused by anti-1080 protesters during the Battle for our Birds poison drop.

He said DOC had employed security guards to protect staff after threats were made against property and families both online and verbally.

DOC director-general Lou Sanson told Radio New Zealand today he had met with police commissioner Mike Bush about 1080 protests and the commissioner offered his "full support".

Sanson said incidents had occurred in Southland and the central North Island as well as the Coast.

DOC respected people's right to peacefully protest but things had escalated this year, he said.

"It's stepped up with personal attacks, personally naming people, personally attacking helicopter companies."

Until there was a scientific breakthrough, 1080 was the best technique for killing predators and pests and protecting native birds, Sanson said.

Protestor complains

Westport anti-1080 campaigner Pete Lusk told The Westport News today he intended to lay a complaint with police this afternoon about incidents which occurred during protests near Karamea.

He said that on three separate occasions between September 21 and 24 he was denied free passage, "shouldered" by a security guard and had his vehicle blocked in against a fence.

The Kahurangi National Park 1080 drop is the largest operation in DOC's 2016 national Battle for our Birds programme and covers about 295,000 hectares of the Coast.

- Westport News