Man caught poisoning wedge-tailed eagles

News and events in the media and political arena relating to firearms.

Re: Man caught poisoning wedge-tailed eagles

Post by Rod_outbak » 24 Sep 2018, 8:47 pm

Looks like I might have been right about the chemicals used; Lanate is one of the chemicals that is easily available for controlling cabbage-moths, and is sudden-death on raptors. Havent heard of the phosphorus chemical they mention.
Doesnt look like any 1080 poison was used; cant see they'd have been able to poison that many birds in just 2 years, without authorities noticing the excessive amount of 1080 baits being used.
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Re: Man caught poisoning wedge-tailed eagles

Post by Daddybang » 25 Sep 2018, 6:38 am

Gday rod
Do they only use 1080 to poison dogs?
Up here I know a few old fellas that may use other stuff (one that starts with s) :silent: :drinks:
Either way this dog only getting 14 days and 2500 in fines is a F@#kin disgrace. :thumbsup: :drinks:
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Re: Man caught poisoning wedge-tailed eagles

Post by Rod_outbak » 25 Sep 2018, 7:36 am

Daddybang,

If you still use steel-jawed traps(in QLD at least), you are supposed to use Strychnine on the jaws, to kill the animal ASAP. Recommended method is a cloth wired to the jaws; impregnated with Strychnine. Some of the other states still have this requirement.
I HATE using Strychnine, as it is too indiscriminate, and any animal(or human!) who gets trapped will likely be poisoned/killed. Some states have now banned the use of steel jawed traps, and we havent used steel-jawed traps here for over 15 years. However, there are some people who say that dogs can escape rubber-jawed traps, and so still use steel. I think this is a load of garbage; we have caught dogs that would have lost part of the foot, but escaped, if we'd been using steel-jaws. Also, steel-jaws will shatter legs, and the animal will often gnaw the shattered limb off, and escape.
We regularly find REALLY pissed-off sheep, pigs and roos in the rubber-jawed traps; alive and well(though seriously annoyed).
Strychnine will kill just about anything, with the possible exception of goannas, wheras properly applied 1080 is vastly more specific on the animals it will kill.

Another commonly used poison is CSSP, which has a phosphorus base, and burns the guts out. I remember many years ago, seeing sheep carcasses that had been baited wih CSSP, had mummified in the cold winter weather, and a 2mm shower of rain had caused the carcass to catch fire.
Scarey stuff, but still available, if you sign the poisons register at your local Ag supplies store.
It is supposed to be only used for pigs, but it is another very non-discriminate poison.

The thing about Lanate, is where 1080, CSSP and Strychnine all require an audit trail to purchase & use, Lanate would be an over-the-counter chemical that mightnt even need a signature for, and would be used regularly in that farming/orchard country around Mildura.

MANY years ago, there used to be a Fly-Strike chemical on the market called Luci-Jet. It was available for ~50 years, and phased out somewhere in the early 1980's. Luci-jet was often (illegally) used to bait carcasses, to nail crows, eagles, pigs, etc. The thing was, the amount of secondary and tertiary poisoning was off the chart. You could find animals dead from eating the crows that ate the dead pig that died from eating the freaking baited carcass!
REALLY nasty stuff.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the key chemical in Lanate, is the same chemical in Luci-Jet. Not likely to be the same concentration, but still something we dont want used incorrectly.

As bad a rap as 1080 gets, it is a far more target-specific and ecologically-responsible poison to use. Part of the reason for this, is there is much greater control over it's use, and it's biodegradable.
I still hope for the day where poisons can be a thing of history, but the feral populations across Australia dont suggest that will be any time soon.

[About the only thing less discriminate than Strychnine, were Dingo-Cannons, which were just sawn-off 12-gauge shotguns on a trip-wire. Banned well over a century ago, after they lost a few boundary-riders whilst fixing the fence... I'm not a big fan of Dingo-cannons, either!]

Cheers,

Rod.
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Re: Man caught poisoning wedge-tailed eagles

Post by Daddybang » 25 Sep 2018, 8:56 am

Thanks for the info rod :thumbsup:
I'm not a huge user of poisons (I prefer to shoot any ferals on my block but can see where that wouldn't be totally viable on stations.
For some reason I was under the impression that strychnine was illegal to use up here but must have been reading about another state?? :drinks:
This hard living ain't as easy as it used to be!!!
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Re: Man caught poisoning wedge-tailed eagles

Post by Rod_outbak » 25 Sep 2018, 9:42 am

Yeas; cant remember which of the Southern states have banned Strychnine, but I think at least 2 or 3 of them have done so. Cant even remember which states still allow it, but QLD is one.
You buy the stuff from the chemist; of all things.
[Most other registered poisons are sold either through local council, the local Ag-Chem dealer(sign poisons register & ID recorded), or another state body.]
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Re: Man caught poisoning wedge-tailed eagles

Post by YoungBuck » 25 Sep 2018, 1:26 pm

Update on this.

Ms Paganis told the court three different chemicals were used to kill the eagles, but most of the eagle deaths were caused by the chemical Lannate.

"John Auer showed him how to do it by injecting the substances into the necks of lambs," Ms Paganis told the court.

Lannate caused the eagles to die within 30 minutes of feeding on the sheep and lamb carcasses, the court heard.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-24/m ... d/10298426
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Re: Man caught poisoning wedge-tailed eagles

Post by Gaznazdiak » 25 Sep 2018, 1:39 pm

From the latest report:
"The court was told the maximum penalty for killing so many eagles was more than $350,000 or six months' jail."

Yet they give him 2 weeks in lockup and $2500 fine, despite finding it was voluntary, deliberate, and with full knowledge that they were protected?

What a fvcking joke our "justice" system has become.
fideles usque ad mortem
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Re: Man caught poisoning wedge-tailed eagles

Post by Sergeant Hartman » 25 Sep 2018, 1:43 pm

I would have been surprised if he was given anything more. Considering the woman who killed a boy got only 80hrs community service as she was on drugs and unlicensed at the time of the incident.

Saying that I was surprised a woman got 8 years jail for selling ice and other drugs for less than a year (ran the cartel in town) I reckon her lawyers should be able to go for re-trial ... lol
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Re: Man caught poisoning wedge-tailed eagles

Post by Archie » 25 Sep 2018, 6:28 pm

Gaznazdiak wrote:From the latest report:
"The court was told the maximum penalty for killing so many eagles was more than $350,000 or six months' jail."

Yet they give him 2 weeks in lockup and $2500 fine, despite finding it was voluntary, deliberate, and with full knowledge that they were protected?

What a fvcking joke our "justice" system has become.


Yeah I did think it was a bit much that the government was talking about it being the first custodial sentence for wildlife destruction. I mean, it's two weeks. I'd rather not go to jail for two weeks but I'd happily take it if I had thought I was up for six months. Admittedly he did confess early and they did imply his boss kind of bullied him into it but yeah, 2 weeks seems a bit light to me.
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