Bottom line
One thing that is for sure, in the last 20yrs our bush has changed dramatically.. the occasional large dead tree standing out of the bush top...before damn near every larger tree above the canopy was either dead or dying due to possum damage.
Sure lets dump 1080.
Now since we cant get the manpower.. or afford to, to cull / trap etc....even to the levels pre 70s which where slowly failing.
Throw in that there are far more tracks, people, tourists and local making use of the bush these days .. with added danger of traps and shooting..
The issue is not just possums, the stoats, ferret have a huge impact, then throw in the rats....and feral cat populations... and lets not forget or underestimate the so called humble hedgehog
What do people suggest as WORKABLE and AFFORDABLE alternative? to control ALL of these species..
If knock out one species then the others multiply dramatically.. bit of catch 22.
Its easy to criticise but if doing so think about the alternatives
OK some say send out the unemployed or along those lines....
We have to import around 54K farm workers to pick our crops, milk our cows....We have around 50K 16 to 24yr old unemployed who find doing such work too hard....
So lets stop 1080.. watch the mature bush be decimated in less than a decade....and along with it any chance to re populate native species from insects thru to birds.
Im no fan of 1080.. but the difference I see its made to so much of our bush.. even from what it was like in the 60s has been dramatic..