A retired veterinarian in Northland says he has permission from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to import live canine distemper virus for trials on killing stoats preying on native birdlife.
Mustelids, such as stoats and ferrets, and other mammals are susceptible to the virus, which is also being investigated by
Government scientists as a way of killing ferrets spreading bovine tuberculosis.
But veterinarian Ron Peebles of Paihia said yesterday that he believed the AgResearch scientists investigating ferret control wanted to create a form of the virus which was fatal for ferrets but not for dogs.
He believed his own project had failed to win Department of Conservation support and funding because bureaucrats were worried about the political implications of using a viral pesticide which could kill unvaccinated pet dogs.
Mr Peebles, who used to have three veterinary practices in Adelaide, South Australia, said dogs should be vaccinated against the disease anyway.
He thought it would take a week to obtain the virus from the United States Department of Agriculture.
In North America, distemper almost wiped out the native black-footed ferret in the wild in 1984.
The disease attacks an animal's skin and mucous membranes, causing sneezing, coughing, vomiting and diarrhoea, killing more than 90 per cent of infected ferrets over several weeks. Humans are not at risk, but about 90 per cent of dogs which contract it die.
Thirty years ago it was relatively common in New Zealand dogs, but there have been only sporadic cases since an effective vaccine became available to pet-owners.
Mr Peebles said he recognised there were potential risks if the distemper virus spread from stoats to the native seal population, but felt action was urgently needed for some bird species on the brink of extinction in Northland, such as kiwi.
There was also a risk that some fisherman or salmon farmer worried about seals taking fish would try to illegally use the distemper virus against the problem seal population.
Mr Peebles said he had a permit to import the virus for trials against stoats.
An attempt a decade ago to vaccinate 2000 captive ferrets near Blenheim against distemper killed most of them.
Mr Peebles said native birds were under huge pressure in many parts of the country.
Kiwi in particular were being hit by stoats taking young birds, and it was time a hard line was taken on the predators.
- NZPA
