Your views: Readers' letters

'Get Ready' swipe

It was disappointing to read Mark Dawson's editorial footnote (in the weekend edition of the Chronicle) taking a swipe at council staff over the timing of a media release issued during Get Ready Week (October 9-15).

We found this more than a little ironic as Whanganui District Council placed a full-page advertisement in the Chronicle publication, Wanganui Midweek, the week before, along with a reminder in the council Community Link page.

This was followed with a comprehensive Community Link article during Get Ready Week, a stall and giveaways at the River Traders market, promotional radio interviews and reminders across a multiple media channels, including social media.

Get Ready Week is one of a range of educational activities and preparations to help our community get ready for emergency events. One example is a two-day Civil Defence intermediate training course, which was delivered by our staff recently for people from organisations and across the region.

Our Civil Defence and public information managers are among the best prepared and experienced in the country and their dedication is second to none.

Local organisations like Red Cross, Neighbourhood Support, Bunnings Warehouse and Countdown Trafalgar Square have participated in the week with promotions and information.

Every week is "get ready week" for council staff and disaster resilience, especially in our community which is prone to flooding, storm events, earthquakes and tsunami.

KYM FELL
Chief Executive, Whanganui District Council

■ Editor's note: The editorial noted our surprise that while Get Ready Week began on Monday, October 9, council did not issue its media release on the topic until the afternoon of Wednesday, October 11.

1080 bykill

The rule of thumb with 1080 poison is that pellets lose their toxicity with about 50mm of rain. This was the rule when poisoning farms and when to allow sheep back into a paddock. Possum and rabbit carcasses are toxic until they are totally rotted away,

including the bones. The bones are not toxic, but there may be a small piece of gut still toxic sitting there.

Possums petrified in a dry hole will stay toxic for years.

Here is a fact most people do not understand: One toxic bait that will kill a possum can also keep on killing. Dogs are the most susceptible animals to 1080 and weka are the least.

People say 1080 is biodegradable, and I am not qualified to comment, but over the 50 years of experience I can tell you that many farmers would disagree, as they have lost dogs that have died from eating a piece of very rotten possum or rabbit killed up to 12 months earlier in a 1080 operation.

If 1080 is so biodegradable, it would have broken down. Written from many years of experience and of losing two dogs myself.

MERV SMITH
Bulls

Send your letters to: The Editor, Wanganui Chronicle, 100 Guyton St, PO Box 433, Wanganui 4500; or email editor@wanganuichronicle.co.nz