Farmers support a decision to use the poison 1080 to curb rising rabbit numbers in the South Island high country.
The Canterbury Regional Council has granted a 10 year consent for aerial drops of 1080 and pindone by the Department of Conservation over 37,000 hectares in the Aoraki-Mt Cook National Park, Mackenzie Basin and Upper Waitaki Valley.
Opposing groups are concerned that birds and animals will also die.
But Federated Farmers says 1080 is the best option for reducing rabbit numbers, which are swelling as their immunity builds to rabbit calicivirus.
