by Wapiti » 03 Jan 2026, 9:42 am
Not sure what poison or compound you mate is putting out, DJ, you don't say, but recommended 1080 doses used for introduced species are safe for native animals.
Mate, from the literature I've got - fact sheets from credible test labs and the feral animal coordinator control bloke from the Southern Downs Council, the LD or lethal dose for cats, dogs, foxes, pigs whatever, from 1080 is not lethal. Not even close.
Any recommended LD in a 1080 bait is strictly controlled and farmers just can't spread 1080 around without supervision, thank goodness.
However our native Aussie animals have developed a natural resistance to 1080 because it's naturally occurring here. In the south-west of WA – where more fluoroacetate-bearing plants naturally occur – have an even higher natural tolerance to 1080.
Pea bush in WA, Gidgee in Qld and the NT contain sodium fluoroacetate poison so our animals have developed a natural resistance to it, even when concentrated - up to a point. This point is not even close to being reached deliberately in any 1080 baits in Aus, and it's not cumulative.
Goannas on my place routinely try and steal any meat baits laced with 1080, and are still there to steal the next round months later.
There is so much cr@p on social media, unfortunately repeated by parrots, saying 1080 kills everything else along with the target animal. It comes from not just greenies, but shooters as well.
A copy/paste from some data I have:
"The amount of 1080 injected into each wild dog and fox bait is deadly to those species but safe for native predators, including birds of prey (e.g. wedge-tailed eagles), reptiles (e.g. goannas) and the iconic spotted-tailed quoll. This is because they are much more tolerant to the poison than the wild dogs, foxes or feral cats the baits are designed to target.
Spotted-tailed quolls, the largest marsupial predator on the Australian mainland, thrive in areas of New South Wales that have aerial baited wild dogs and foxes for decades. Baiting reduces the risk of predation and competition for resources.
Intensive research undertaken within Kosciuszko National Park and the New England tablelands between 2002 and 2005 showed that spotted-tailed quoll populations were unaffected after individuals ate meat baits containing 1080 (Claridge et al., 2006, 2007, Kortner 2007).
The proof came from adding a special dye to the 1080 meat baits, one that can later be detected in their hair and whiskers of animals that have consumed baits. The whiskers from resident animals trapped after the baiting showed that many had eaten baits with some individuals consuming up to five. These same quolls were recaptured in following years and showed no ill effects from eating baits containing 1080. As a result, in 2006, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service overturned their ban on 1080 aerial baiting for wild dogs based on this research.
Rather than being harmful, 1080 is Australia’s natural toxin. It’s target-specific, biodegradable, and an essential tool in the fight to protect Australia’s unique wildlife and ecosystems from the impacts of introduced, feral animals."
Regards G,
AKA Dr. Doolittle