Frequently Asked Questions

1080 poison is a colourless, tasteless and odourless toxin the Australian government cites as a chemical of security concern. There is no known antidote. It is lethal to all warm blooded organisms and is banned in most countries.

One of the core services our organisation provides is support for families grieving the loss of a loved one to 1080 poison. Many families contact us because they have no one else to turn to.

We regularly report the death of companion animals to relevant state authorities because their families are often too traumatised to do so themselves.

We are the only organisation in Australia to provide these services.

Sadly, the loss of beloved companion animals is not an uncommon experience. We are frequently approached by devastated Australians who have had to watch on in terror as their beloved pet dies a slow and deeply disturbing death.

Heartbroken families have watched helplessly as their pets bleed from every hole in their bodies, throw themselves against the sides of houses, into barbed-wire fences, and against brick walls when they completely lose control of their bodies. Some have been bitten so badly by a dog they have known and loved since birth that they’ve needed stitches, lost fingers or thumbs. Others have accidentally run over other pets in their desperation to get to a vet.

Because there is no antidote to 1080 poisoning, there’s nothing any of them could do to help them. Instead, they do their best to comfort them. They tell them they love them. They sit with them until they die, hours after their first symptoms appear.

If you or someone you know has experienced this trauma, please contact us - we are here for you.

Like many infamous things, 1080 poison goes by several names. Its correct chemical name is sodium monofluoroacetate, but it is commonly known simply as “1080” (‘ten-eighty’).

The name “1080” refers to the fact that it was the one thousand and eightieth chemical studied by scientists who were trying to find replacement substances to kill rats and other rodents during World War 2.

It is one of the most toxic substances known to exist in the world. There is no known antidote. It is a white, odourless and tasteless poison that is considered a chemical of security concern by the Federal Australian government. It is in the same restricted regulatory schedule as other notorious poisons like arsenic or cyanide.

In Australia, it is used to kill unwanted or unwelcome wildlife. Learn about how 1080 poison is used in your state.

Despite claims that it is target-specific, it is frequently ingested by and kills non-target animals. You can read some of these stories here.

All living organisms are made of small units called cells; these are the building blocks of life. All cells need energy to stay alive. Energy comes from the food we eat and acts as fuel for the body. Cells convert food into energy in a process known as the Citric Acid Cycle (it is also known as the Kreb’s cycle, named after the scientist who first identified it in the 1930s). All animals who have muscles, including humans, use this cycle to make them work. It is fundamental to the life of all vertebrates.

1080 poison is lethal to all warm-blooded animals. It fatally interferes with the Citric Acid Cycle by inhibiting this important pathway. It causes organ failure and death because it blocks the body’s ability to convert food into energy. This irreversible process starves the body of everything it needs to survive.

Because 1080 poison impacts species in different ways, the signs of poisoning are not the same in all animals. Herbivores often suffer cardiac failure while carnivores often suffer central nervous system shutdowns and die of respiratory failure. Because they are omnivores, pigs can suffer both of these before they die.

Dogs are the most susceptible species to 1080 poison. For a 30 kilogram dog, less than 2 milligrams is enough to kill them. More than three times this amount is used in baits meant to kill dingoes. That means as many as three dogs can die by a single 1080 bait. And because these baits are intended to kill dingoes, they are highly appetising to dogs as well.

Though individuals of some species may not die, they may never be the same again. This is known as sublethal poisoning; while repeat doses can kill marsupials, non-lethal doses can kill young animals still in the pouch.

It was previously believed that 1080 poison could be selectively used to kill target species, particularly canines. Though this misconception remains widely perpetuated, and can be seen in the terminology used by Australian state government departments who engage in 1080 baiting to control specific species, this is false.

No. In a peer-reviewed study, a scientific officer for Australia’s preeminent animal welfare organisation, the RSPCA, concluded that “the most desirable poisons have a minimum number of symptoms before rapid loss of consciousness and death, with no lasting effects on survivors”. 1080 fails to meet these key criteria and, as a result, 1080 is not humane.

Animals poisoned with 1080 scream, vomit, defecate and suffer violent and prolonged seizures. They die with a final convulsion anywhere between 30 minutes and 72 hours after ingesting the poison. In some species, death can occur even later.

• Sheep can die up to 96 hours after ingesting 1080 poison

• Some native marsupial carnivores can die after up to 6 days after ingesting 1080 poison

• Some native marsupial herbivores can die up to 6 and a half days after ingesting 1080 poison

• Goats can die up to 7 days after ingesting 1080 poison

• Some lizards can die after up to 22 days after ingesting 1080 poison

For over a decade, as Australia’s leading animal welfare organisation, the RSPCA has held that 1080 is “not humane” and therefore they promote the development of more humane alternatives.

For first-hand, eye-witness accounts of death by 1080, see the Victim Impact Statements section or the Faces of 1080 section of this website.

You can find articles about the inhumaneness of 1080 poisoning in the Evidence section of this website.

1080 is a colourless, tasteless and odourless chemical included in the World Health Organisation’s most toxic category. Our own federal government cites it as a chemical of security concern.

This is based on the growing fear that the lack of an antidote, coupled with its absence of taste, odour and the time it takes for symptoms of poisoning to appear, could be used to deliberately poison people.

Because 1080 poison is lethal to all warm-blooded animals, the risk of tragedies is an ever-present threat every time it is used. This includes native species, too.

No. The alleged resistance of native species is one of the most prevalent and dangerous myths propagated about 1080 poison. It is misleading and based upon evolutionary defence mechanisms some native pea-producing plant species have developed against herbivory (i.e., the consumption of their leaves or peas by herbivores).

In reality, animals in Australia vary significantly in their sensitivity to 1080. None have developed “immunity” or resistance to it. This is amply shown by ongoing baiting targeting native species in Tasmania. Some species in southern Australia are 3 times more sensitive to 1080 than the same species in Western Australia, and marsupial herbivores in eastern Australia are over 100 times more sensitive than they are in Western Australia.

It is the Coalition’s position that even if some native species are less susceptible to 1080 poisoning, this does not justify the deliberate use of such a dangerous chemical in the killing of unwanted or unwelcome wildlife.

No. This is another myth spread about 1080 poison. It threatens all warm-blooded lifeforms - no animal can be considered safe during or after a baiting program.

Crows and other birds have been shown to move baits into suburban backyards, leading in some cases to scores of companion animal deaths. Even the vomit of poisoned animals can pose a threat to any animal who consumes it.

Studies have shown that the target species do not take the bait intended for them. Of a total of 936 baits, only 36% could actually be accounted for. This is because it is practically impossible to locate every bait dropped.

Only 4 baits - less than 2% - were eaten by their intended victims, leaving at least 98% in the environment for other animals. In another, less than 2% were taken by non-target species with a single native animal, the quokka, responsible for taking nearly half of them. The intended victims were responsible for taking only one. 1080 simply is not working.

Aerial baiting, which involves dropping baits out of helicopters over vast distances, is even more indiscriminate. This is because it is not possible to control where baits land. Ground baiting, where 1080 baits are laid on the ground by hand, is still difficult to monitor. In 2018, one study found that non-target animals ate more than 70% of ground-laid baits.

The toxic effects of 1080 can continue to persist in carcasses and pose a secondary threat to native animals for up to 75 days after the first death. Even after inevitable death and decay, 1080 residue may remain in the carcass or bone of poisoned animals.

You can find these sources and more in the Evidence section of this website.

Yes. 1080 is toxic to all warm-blood animals, including humans. As little as 1 milligram of 1080 poison is enough to cause life-threatening poisoning in people.

There have been several examples where 1080 has been trialled as a weapon. Since 2001, 1080 poison has been documented in more than 3% of known chemical terror attacks. In March 2015, terrorists in New Zealand threatened to contaminate infant dairy formula with 1080 poison. 1080 was also found in covert laboratories that developed chemical materials used in assassinations in Iraq.

In 2021, a bait manufacturer in New Zealand was fined $275,000 for exposing an employee to 1080 poison. At the time, the company was experiencing difficulty obtaining 1080 poison and was under pressure to meet supply demands, so had initiated its own manufacturing program. This involved combining sodium hydroxide, ethyl fluoroacetate and ethanol to produce 1080 poison. One worker involved in this process was hospitalised for over a month and put into an induced coma.

Symptoms of 1080 poisoning in humans range from nausea, vomiting, convulsions, loss of consciousness, respiratory or acute renal failure and coma. Consciousness becomes increasingly impaired over time, ultimately leading to coma. Similar symptoms are frequently cited in other animals after ingesting 1080 poison.

Research continues to focus on developing an antidote in response to concerns that 1080 could be used as a weapon.

You can read more about 1080 poisoning in people in the Evidence section of this website.

No. 1080 was first used in Australia in the early 1950s to control wild rabbits.

When it was initially used, it caused scores of “non-target” animal deaths. Flocks of sheep were reportedly poisoned after being let loose to feed on land baited only four days before. The same year, a total of 490 sheep, 31 dogs, 26 cats, over 100 kangaroos, and an unspecified “large number” of starlings and black birds were recorded as dying due to 1080 poison in the north east Royal George region of Tasmania alone.

When 1080 was first used, it was heralded as “a miracle and a wonder”; only a few decades later, it was denounced as “one of the worst evils ever perpetrated by modern science”. More than sixty years later, Australia continues to be one of the only countries in the world that continues to allow it to be used at all. Whether laid in baits, dropped from helicopters over vast distances, loaded into spring-action ejectors, or surgically inserted into native animals who are intended to act as martyrs to an increasingly extreme form of “conservation”, it is clear to anyone who has witnessed an animal die by 1080 poisoning that it the ends do not justify the means.

The truth is, it is a choice to use 1080. We can choose not to be cruel.

Australia continues to use 1080 because it is relatively easy to apply, is particularly potent, and is comparatively cheap to produce and use.

Its use is regularly rationalised by claims about the impacts unwanted or unwelcome animals have on native wildlife or agricultural production. Though it is currently approved for use across all Australian States and Territories, some local Councils have refused to use it.

In 2021, the Blue Mountains City Council became the first in Australia to ban the use of 1080 poison on land it owns or manages.

Australia is one of the few remaining countries that considers the use of 1080 poison acceptable. It is time that we caught up with the rest of the world and urgently ban 1080 across the country.

Currently, Australia uses 1080 poison to kill 8 species:

• rabbits

• dingoes

• foxes

• wild pigs

• cats

• brush-tail possums

• Bennett’s wallabies and

• Tasmanian pademelons.

Dingoes are routinely referred to as "wild dogs" in a cynical attempt to maintain the social license of 1080 in Australia, despite substantial evidence that it represents a significant threat to dingo populations.

Simply tabulating the species currently targeted with 1080 does not give an accurate account of the species actually killed by the poison. Though these are the "target" species, an untold number of other animals from a range of species are killed in the process. These deaths are considered collateral.

The Coalition’s position is that Australia must urgently and proactively catch up with the rest of the world. We must initiate an urgent phase-out of 1080 across the country. You can sign petitions, send letters and join the movement at the Take Action section of this website.

One of the most frequent justifications for the continued use of 1080 in Australia is the existence of several native species of plants that naturally produce fluoroacetate, the active chemical in 1080 poison.

Biologists believe that these plants contain the chemical in their peas or leaves as a defence against herbivores who might eat them. It is thought that over time this exposure has led some native species to develop a higher tolerance to 1080 poison than some others. But those found in northern Australia produce far lower concentrations and they are almost entirely absent from eastern Australia. This means that native animals in these areas didn’t evolve in the presence of the plants state governments often rely on when they claim 1080 won’t harm them.

Today we know that the regional variation in their evolutionary exposure to these plants has caused significant differences in their sensitivity to 1080 poisoning. Some species in southern Australia are 3 times more sensitive to 1080 than the same species in Western Australia, and marsupial herbivores in eastern Australia are over 100 times more sensitive than they are in Western Australia.

Arguments that 1080 is natural are akin to maintaining that the baits contain the peas of plants not an industrially produced, synthetic poison the Australian government has identified as a chemical of security concern.

You can read more about the indiscriminate nature of 1080 poison at the Evidence section of this website.

Australia is second only to New Zealand in the wholesale use 1080 poison.

Though New Zealand outcompetes Australia in terms of quantity, Australia has adopted methods not seen anywhere else in the world.

For example, during an Australian program an experimental capsule of 1080 poison was subcutaneously inserted into the bodies of wild-caught dingoes. Elsewhere, so-called “toxic Trojan” bait programs have been developed by Australian researchers. These similarly involve the surgical insertion of 1080 capsules into prey species under the logic that predatory species will succumb after preying upon them and ingesting the poison.

The fact that we are in the overwhelming minority of countries that continue to permit the use of 1080 poison ought to indicate the urgency of catching up with the rest of the world. You can find out why at the Evidence section of this website.

A range of alternatives to 1080 poisoning exist. These acknowledge that many modern ecosystems are vibrant collections of both native and introduced animals. Many promote coexistence rather than a reliance on lethal control.

As it applies to instances in which 1080 is used to kill predatory animals, there are a gamut of options available. These can be other fatal methods, like alternative poisons, or they can be strictly non-lethal techniques. These include fertility control programs or the adoption of livestock guardian animals ('LGAs').

In terms of conservation, the use of 1080 in baits or other devices is often rationalised as a benevolent practice that poses negligent risks to the animals it claims to protect. It has been shown, however, that this is not the case. Native herbivores like wallabies and pademelons are actively targeted with 1080 in Tasmania.

The Coalition promotes the principles of compassionate conservation over a reliance on cruel and often ineffective lethal measures.

You can read more about alternatives in the Evidence section of this website.