Hundreds of anti-1080 protesters descended upon Parliament on Saturday to call for an end to New Zealand's use of the poison.
Department of Conservation (DoC), Federated Farmers and Forest and Bird all support the use of 1080. Groups of concerned environmentalists nationwide have called for it to be banned.
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Protesters Newshub spoke to on Saturday said use of the poison needed to be a thing of the past.
"I found out about 1080 when I was a student and worked for the forerunner of DoC, which was Forest Service," said protester Jim Hilton.
"It's wrong. We don't need it and we don't want it."
Hawke's Bay woman Louise O'Connor had driven a long way for the protest and believes change is needed.
"I believe that unless this changes we are going to have a lot of problems, and I believe that we need to get someone from inside [Parliament] to work with us and we need to work with them," she said.
"It needs to be a collaboration, but things need to change fast."
Forest and Bird's Kevin Hackwell says he understands people's concern, but 1080 is an effective method of pest control.
"We understand why people may be concerned. The idea of using poisons - nobody wants to, but you have to, because we have to be killing those pests. If we don't, our wildlife dies."
Newshub.
