We are a community group based in a small, beautiful valley in Nelson about 3 km from the CBD. About 600 residents reside in this valley along with domestic pets, stock and wildlife. The headwaters of the clearest, cleanest water in Nelson (and according to NIWA - in NZ) are also based in Brook Valley.

The Nelson City Council leased public land to the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary Trust to create a bird sanctuary. The Sanctuary Trust have fenced in an area and want to aerially drop 25 tonne of deadly brodifacoum. This poison will wipe out all living creatures and enable them to 'restock' it with selected species of birds and other wildlife that they approve of. Brodifacoum is a particularly nasty poison - even more inhumane that 1080 - it takes creatures longer to die therefore they suffer more and there is a high risk of secondary poisoning (e.g. when a mouse eats the poison and a morepork eats the mouse then the morepork will die). This poison will contaminate the headwaters, and the Brook Stream all the way down to the estuary.

We, the undersigned, petition the Trustees of the Waimarama Brook Sanctuary Trust to abandon the intention to drop brodifacoum by air into the sanctuary this 2017 winter.

Our reasons are: That we object to wholesale poisoning of the beadwater catchment of the Brook Stream;  that we consider the use of brodifacoum in this way to be inhumane, dangerous to public and ecological health, and unnecessary;  and that the process by which the decision was reached did not permit public input, as it should have done.