Greater Wellington Regional Council is urging dog owners to keep their dogs away from the Hutt River and Wellington Harbour beaches until staff have checked these areas for dead possums poisoned with 1080.

Recent heavy rain during Saturday 17 July 2021 may have washed dead possums poisoned with 1080, from a possum control operation on Friday 2 July 2021 in the Akatarawa Forest, down the Hutt River and into Wellington Harbour.

On Sunday, Greater Wellington will be erecting warning signs and checking beaches from Petone through to Pencarrow. Once the level of the Hutt River has gone down, staff will check both sides for possum carcasses from Upper Hutt to Petone.

Greater Wellington Biosecurity Manager Davor Bejakovich said that any dead possums aren’t a threat to people, but would still be poisonous to dogs.

“While people aren’t at risk from these poisoned carcasses, we take the threat to dogs very seriously. We’re putting up warning signs along beaches at Petone and the eastern side of the harbour Sunday 18 July and along the Hutt River as soon as the water level has dropped.

“We urge dog owners to avoid all eastern harbour beaches from Petone to Pencarrow, and the Hutt riverbed. Anyone walking their dog near the harbour beaches and Hutt Riverbed should keep their animals close on a lead and not allow them to scavenge, until warning signs have been taken down.”

This warning to dog owners could be in place for up to four months, depending on how long it takes for the possum carcasses to breakdown.

If dogs have any contact with a dead possum in the vicinity of those risk areas, owners should get their dog to vomit and take it to a vet urgently.

For more information on this proposed operation and the precautions you can take to ensure safety for you and your pets: http://www.gw.govt.nz/1080ops/

Get to know the facts on 1080: http://www.1080facts.co.nz/

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