A Taupo company says it has developed a deer repellent to stop the animals eating and dying from 1080 poison meant to kill possums.
The repellent made by Epro has been backed by professional hunters who searched for deer -- dead or alive -- after field trials.
They counted deer over two
2000ha blocks of land in Hawke's Bay. In one block, aerial 1080 carrot bait containing the deer repellent was used.
On nearby Department of Conservation land, drops were made with standard 1080 carrot bait with no added deer repellent.
In the repellent block, the hunters found no dead deer but saw 17 live animals. In the non-repellent block, they found four dead deer but saw no live animals.
Epro said the repellent was needed because of the number of deer being unintentionally killed after eating 1080 poison meant for possums.
Professional hunter Dave Wilson, of Te Anau, said hunters should support the repellent's use, because it reduced deer deaths to insignificant levels.
A trial of the repellent earlier this year in the Kaimanawa Ranges, central North Island, showed that a number of deer had been poisoned. But Epro operations manager Cam Speedy said that was because the repellent had not stuck properly to the 1080 baits.
"Once we had solved that issue we were confident we would significantly improve the performance of the repellent and the latest trial shows we have done just that," Mr Speedy said.
The next stage is a field trial to test the deer repellent used with cereal pellet bait.
- DAILY POST (ROTORUA)
