Aerial Baiting with 1080

[Brian Fleming <>]

When I was 10 (c.1951?) I visited a sheep property out near Mt
Arapiles in western Victoria.
The owner's wife said with great enthusiasm:
  "There's a wonderful new rabbit poison called 1080! Not only does it
kill all the rabbits, it kills everything that eats the dead ones, and
we pick up dead eagles and hawks and foxes every day!"
  They hung all dead raptors on the fence. We saw rows of dozens of
Wedgetails in many places on that trip.
  The owner said he was looking for something that would poison frogs
but not harm sheep, as there were many (probably Pobblebonks) breeding
in a spring on the property, and it was well-known that frogs and
tadpoles were either poisonous or distasteful to sheep.
  I hope that these attitudes have changed a bit.
  Anthea Fleming in melbourne

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