New Zealand First says a woman whose property borders a 1080 dropzone near Wellington is being intimidated by Ospri - a not-for-profit company owned by agricultural industry groups which is doing the drop.
Vicki Cordier has alpacas, dogs, cats, chickens and runs a hydrotherapy business for dogs next to Rimutaka Forest Park in the Hutt Valley.
She was alarmed when told that Ospri was going to conduct an aerial 1080 poison drop just 130m uphill from her property.
"It's not far enough from our top boundary where our alpacas will go and graze and where our dogs have free range of our property too," she told Newshub.
"The big problem is 1080-affected carcasses finding their way onto our property. Attempting to find every dead rat or possum is impossible."
After legal negotiation, Ospri agreed to extend the buffer zone to 200m.
"1080 is targeted for use in remote and rugged areas. This isn't remote and rugged," Ms Cordier said.
But then she received a visit from police, saying they'd come to discuss 1080. Ms Cordier asked police management why.
"That's when I was told it was Ospri who sent them," she said.
She took her concerns to Richard Prosser of New Zealand First, who met with Ospri.
"We asked whether the police turning up at Vicki's place had anything to do with them and they said it hadn't, but the written answers we've got from the Minister show Ospri did contact police in relation to this drop," he said.
"We believe it's intimidation on the part of Ospri."
But an OSPRI spokesperson denies they sent the police.
"We had received a threat to personnel about the operation and passed this on to police," he said.
Ms Cordier, who says she's not an anti-1080 protestor, said there was also a security guard parked at the end of her driveway for a short time during the non-toxic pre-bait drop last week.
"It's not good enough to have a government agency of this type behaving in this manner towards people. They do have a right to be safe from poisons," Mr Prosser said.
The 1080 drop is scheduled to take place next week.
Newshub.
