Fish and Game Otago is disappointed ground 1080 poisoning in upland areas home to game birds will not be screened to reduce the risk of by-kill.
It asked the Otago Regional Council to screen all rabbit poison baits near upland game bird populations to reduce the risk of the birds dying after eating the highly toxic small bait.
The regional council, which screens out the smaller pieces of bait, chaff, for aerially laid poison, declined, saying there was not enough evidence that screening would protect the game birds.
The issue would be discussed at Fish and Game's council meeting in Tapanui next week.
Fish and Game general manager Niall Watson said there was a lot of public interest in 1080 and there were long-standing concerns about its impact on smaller game birds, California quail, in particular.
Screening of the chaff which was more readily available to small birds, would be a precaution against by-kill, given poisoning operations were on the increase due to high rabbit numbers, he said.
"As time goes on, higher and higher standards of environmental management are expected.
"It's timely to reconsider it."
The situation had some parallel with introduction of non-toxic shot for water fowl hunting in place of lead shot, Mr Watson said.
"While lead shot was not shown to have a significant impact on the environment, lead in the environment was acknowledged as a sensitive issue and the decision to ban lead shot can be seen largely as a precautionary approach."
The upland game season begins at Queens Birthday weekend.
He hoped the council and Fish and Game could meeting to discuss the issue.
Regional Council regional services group manager Jeff Donaldson said, in a letter to Fish and Game, there was no legal requirement to screen baits and the effects of ground laid bait was not scientifically tested.
Any evidence was "anecdotal at best" and there were suggestions other reasons for the decline in game birds was possums, disease and inbreeding, he said.
Regional services would continue to abide by legislation regarding poison baits for rabbits and was researching, with Landcare Research, ways to reduce the amount of bait required in operations.
