Anti-1080 campaigners are accusing the Department of Conservation of putting busloads of young military trainees at risk by allowing them into Coromandel parkland during an aerial pest-eradication operation.
The Defence Force last night confirmed that 115 Limited Service Volunteer trainees aged 17 to 25 were exercising in the Coromandel ForestPark, after arriving on Sunday with 25 instructors while helicopters were dropping bait laced with 1080 poison.
But a spokesman said the exercise was not in the same area as the 1080 drop in the Kauaeranga Valley, southeast of Thames, and the trainees had been instructed not to touch any pellets they might see.
"All DoC and health protocols have been complied with," the spokesman said.
That was disputed by off-duty logging contractor Mark Nyhoff, who said helicopters were flying back and forth over the trainees after he saw them arrive in three buses on Sunday, and they began marching up the valley to their campsite.
He acknowledged not being close enough to see if poisoned bait was being dropped near them, but said there were 1080 warning signs on both sides of them and residual dust from the helicopter hoppers was dangerous enough to human health.
He said he photographed two 1080 pellets in the Kauaeranga River near where the trainees were camped, and a dead possum upstream from them.
DoC has confirmed deciding to keep the park open during the operation, and relying instead on signs to notify the public what was going on. Mathew Dearnaley
