deer released into taranaki forests risking TB

Obviously I'm missing something in this - how does releasing deer into the area promote the anti-1080 campaign ?

The same way threatening to put it into infant milk formula does... it doesn't! Ok, not the same thing, but my daughter was on formula at the time that sob threatened to poison milk powder with 1080 and I'm still furious about it! Releasing deer is eco-terrorism, little different from poisoning milk formula, drilling holes in helicopter fuel tanks, shooting at helicopters, undoing wheel nuts, and everything else these freaks think help their cause.

Oh, wow - that's crazy. Stop destroying the environment (using 1080) or I'll destroy the environment (release deer). I'm lost for words (that i can use here, anyway).

In fairness the milk formula thing wasn't from traditional anti-1080 campaigners. It was a crazy man with a patent on an alternative toxin, and who was probably more interested in deflecting blame on the anti-1080 crowd than directly being one of them. It was a total lack of logic, but not the traditional logic of many in the anti-1080 groups. It was reasonable to consider some of the regular anti-1080 lot suspects. Some of them don't exactly help themselves. My guess is that stopping 1080 wasn't the reason. More likely the excuse. ie. Doing this is acceptable because I hate DOC because ... 1080. Or If I associate this with anti-1080 I'll get supporters because some people in those groups hate whatever DOC wants, and are sympathetic to building herds to hunt. Something like that. This is part of the issue with that group, though. It's so full of highly irrational and occasionally violently threatening people of all random forms that it's such an easy target. (Ref: The "1080 eyewitness." facebook group, which is a central hub for all sorts of insane and angry emotionally-driven weirdness.) DOC probably has good information leading towards suspecting someone with those sentiments, but generally speaking if a group of hunters wanted to give themselves a local population of Sika, it might have seemed a good opportunity to them to deflect attention by smashing up a DOC vehicle, sending a threat note citing 1080 complaints, then release the population. I'm not sure why you'd necessarily do all that if you could just release them under the radar, though.

That is probably a more likely explanation. Even the most ardent anti 1080 activist does understand the importance of reducing the various pests to manageable levels. Releasing more pests is not an action they would be likely to turn to

Just a bunch of hunters releasing sika, yet again not the first time. theres sika liberations in lot of nz. one is in the mangahao catchment in the tararuas, been there since the 1980s. and akatarawa, whitemans valley. silly thing is, Sika displace red deer, eliminating hunting for the Reds. dumb and they know it was cost a lot of taxpayer $$ to try and get rid of them could be anti 1080 hunters that did it, but liberating hasn't begun because of 1080, generally

So, what's so good about Sika deer to hunters ?.

Just considered a highly prized trophy for deer hunters. They are considered more elusive than red. But they are not. I have come across as many Sika as I have red in the kaweka.

Sika stags are generally considered to be more cunning and difficult to shoot during the "roar" compared to Red deer. They can be quite aggressive at that time of year and they have been known to charge hunters, although this is extremely rare. They're beautiful animals and can survive in areas that Red deer can't. Sika deer are the most vocal of any deer species. Very inquisitive at times and that can often be their downfall. I don't personally agree with the use of 1080 poison in this beautiful land of ours. It is an extremely painful and slow way to die for a beautiful animal such as deer or any animal for that matter. It also kills many native birds and gets in the waterways. I think future generations of New Zealander's will hold us accountable for not stopping 1080 use. Deer numbers in recent years have increased significantly in many areas of the country that aren't poisoned. This has come about because of the virtual collapse of the venison recovery industry. Too high a deer population is not an ideal situation though and degrades the quality of the deer herds for hunters. Nevertheless, deer numbers will never approach anything like they were in the 30's to the mid 60's.

Deer do eat forest regeneration and native grasses; that can't be denied. However, they do not do the damage that is often attributed to them. Red deer, our most common species, have been here for well over a hundred years now. Hunting is part of our culture. Every week there are hundreds of deer shot in NZ. The majority of people only hunt for the table and so shoot hinds, often pregnant and of course yearling deer. The true trophy hunter is quite rare in my opinion. I personally believe that deer hunting should be managed via a licence system. The revenue then used towards obtaining a good balance between healthy deer numbers and conservation of forest and grasslands. Lets not forget the amount of jobs and revenue that deer hunting provides. It is also an incentive for young people to get out and explore the great outdoors.