A Nelson wildlife sanctuary that has been under fire for dropping poison as part of a pest removal programme says no residual poison has been detected in nearby waterways.
The Brook Waimarama Sanctuary. Photo: Alison Ballance / RNZ
The Brook Waimarama Sanctuary recently carried out the first of three planned aerial drops of the poison brodifacoum despite several legal attempts to stop it.
The Brook Valley Community Group has challenged the new national regulations for pest control, which imply that aerial drops of the poison are exempt from usual resource consent requirements.
A sanctuary trustee said the results from independent testing showed water in the stream that flowed out of the sanctuary had no detectable brodifacoum residue.
Derek Shaw said the Cawthron Institute in Nelson carried out the sampling, and Landcare's toxicology laboratory did the testing.
He said the trust planned two more aerial drops in the coming weeks.