The risk to dogs of poisoning from sodium monofluoroacetate (1080) residues in possum (Trichosurus vulpecula)

To assess the risk of secondary poisoning to dogs (Canis familiaris) which may scavenge carcasses of poisoned animals, possum carcasses were collected after a possum control operation using sodium monofluoroacetate (1080) paste baits, in Wairarapa, New Zealand, during 1994. The state of the decomposition of carcasses was assessed at intervals for up to 75 days and the 1080 concentrations of the stomach contents analysed. Carcasses collected from the field were found to contain concentrations of 1080 high enough to pose a serious hazard to dogs, even up to 75 days after the poisoning operation.