[7] Brushtail possums, bush rats, and western grey kangaroos native to this region are capable of safely eating plants containing fluoroacetate, but livestock and introduced species from elsewhere in Australia are highly susceptible to the poison,[8] as are species introduced from outside Australia, such as the red fox.

The fact that many Gastrolobium species also have high secondary toxicity to non-native carnivores is thought to have limited the ability of cats to establish populations in locations where the plants form a major part of the understorey vegetation.

Similarly, after bushfires in north-western Queensland, cattlemen have to move livestock before the poisonous Gastrolobium grandiflorum emerges from the ashes.

[13][14] As early as 1904, colonists in Sierra Leone used extracts of Chailletia toxicaria, which also contains fluoroacetic acid or its salts, to poison rats.

[15][16][17] Several native Australian plant genera contain the toxin, including Gastrolobium, Gompholobium, Oxylobium, Nemcia, and Acacia.

Initial symptoms typically include nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain; sweating, confusion, and agitation follow.

Neurological effects include muscle twitching and seizures; consciousness becomes progressively impaired after a few hours leading to coma.

[23] Sub-lethal doses of sodium fluoroacetate may cause damage to tissues with high energy needs, especially the brain, gonads, heart, lungs.

Research in monkeys has shown that the use of glyceryl monoacetate can prevent problems if given after ingestion of sodium fluoroacetate, and this therapy has been tested in domestic animals with some positive results.

In theory, glyceryl monoacetate supplies acetate ions to allow continuation of cellular respiration which the sodium fluoroacetate had disrupted.

In New Zealand and Australia it is also used to control invasive non-native mammals that prey on or compete with native wildlife and vegetation.

In Australia, sodium fluoroacetate was first used in rabbit control programmes in the early 1950s, where it is regarded as having "a long history of proven effectiveness and safety".

[31] It is seen as a critical component of the integrated pest-control programmes for rabbits, foxes, wild dogs, and feral pigs.

In Australia, minor direct mortality of native animal populations from 1080 baits is regarded as acceptable by the regulatory bodies, compared to the predatory and competitive effects of those introduced species being managed using 1080.

[32] 1080 is also used by the agricultural industry to destroy populations of Dingos, Australia's only pre-colonial mammalian apex predator, a practice condemned by numerous conservation groups and wildlife experts around the continent due to its far-reaching destabilisation of the natural balance of the ecosystem.

[34] Some Western Australian herbivores (notably, the local subspecies of the tammar wallaby, Macropus eugenii derbianus, but not the subspecies M. e. eugenii of southern Australia and M. e. decres on Kangaroo Island) have, by natural selection, developed partial immunity to the effects of fluoroacetate,[35] so that its use as a poison may reduce collateral damage to some native herbivores specific to that area.

The baits were spread at the rate of one per 10 hectares and were buried, to mitigate the risk to non-target wildlife species like Tasmanian devils.

[39][40] In 2016, PAPP (para-amino propiophenone) became available for use, which the RSPCA has endorsed as an alternative to 1080, due in part to its ability to kill faster and cause less suffering, as well as having an antidote, which 1080 does not.

[47] Prior to 1972 when the EPA cancelled all uses, sodium fluoroacetate was used much more widely as a cheap[48] predacide and rodenticide; in 1985, the restricted-use "toxic collar" approval was finalized.

Sodium fluoroacetate at the concentrations found in the environment after standard baiting operations will break down in natural water containing living organisms, such as aquatic plants or micro-organisms.

Water-monitoring surveys, conducted during the 1990s, have confirmed that significant contamination of waterways following aerial application of 1080 bait is possible, but unlikely.

[52] Research by NIWA showed that 1080 deliberately placed in small streams for testing was undetectable at the placement site after 8 hours, as it washed downstream.

The experiment did not measure contamination of deeper soil and ground water immediately beneath the site of application.

[58] On the other hand, many native New Zealand bird populations have been successfully protected by reducing predator numbers through aerial 1080 operations.

In contrast, seven of 38 tagged kea, the endemic alpine parrot, were killed[68] during an aerial possum control operation on the West Coast in August 2011.

[74] In New Zealand, the secondary poisoning of feral cats and stoats following 1080 operations is likely to have a positive effect on the recovery of native skink and gecko populations.

Toxicity tests have been conducted in the US on bluegill sunfish, rainbow trout, and the freshwater invertebrate Daphnia magna.

The LC50 for rainbow trout was calculated to be 54 mg 1080/litre – far in excess of any known concentration of 1080 found in water samples following 1080 aerial operations.