Bald eagles across the United States are dying from lead poisoning

[Karen]

Bald eagles across the United States are dying from lead poisoning

www.msn.com

Is this something we can help with? Possibly send letters to the big chain stores?

Copper bullets can be purchased online but are more expensive and difficult to find in stores, she said.

"We need to target the big chain stores and get them to carry copper bullets," Shimp said. "Then I can set up education days at these stores, with a vulture, red tail (hawk) or eagle and show the hunters and point them to the copper ammo. Then we can start to win this war ... the war on lead, not on hunters."

 

[Hankmacaw]

This has been a concern of my vet for many years. I don't know if there is a difference in copper and lead bullets go as far as carrying power and killing power go, but there just aren't enough people aware.

 

[Birdbabe]

It is sad, I climb around the desert alot and do see casings and lead pellets, I pick them up, and at the lakes, same thing, lead sinkers, fishing line,,,arrrgghhh!

 

[itzmered]

This is nothing new and has been going on for years.

 

[Toy]

Here in PA the state closed all shooting ranges, owned by the state, cleaned them up & re-opened them. Copper bullets are 50% more expensive than lead, so until the price drops most hunters will continue to use the lead ones.

 

[BertAllen]

I would like to know how the Bald Eagles are getting the lead. Why are hunters leaving the game for the birds to eat. They also catch fish so how is the fish getting the lead in it?

I know it's a problem with duck etc who forage in the marshes and pick up lead shot but Eagles do not feed that way.

Lead bird shot is banned in Canada and has been for 20 years or so, same for lead sinkers and jigs used for fishing.

 

[tka]

@BertAllen you've just said it yourself: ducks eat lead shot when foraging, then an eagle catches and eats the duck. Or a bird or animal is shot but survives long enough to escape then lives a long and happy life until its caught by an eagle.

 

[BertAllen]

Here in PA the state closed all shooting ranges, owned by the state, cleaned them up & re-opened them. Copper bullets are 50% more expensive than lead, so until the price drops most hunters will continue to use the lead ones.

I have never seen pure copper bullets for sale here in Canada. All I shoot are copper plated lead.
Copper plated and lead are the same price here.
No hunter would go after game with a solid bullet (projectile) IMO it would be inhumane.

Copper bullets can be inhumane

The truth about copper bullets versus lead core bullet designs

www.ballisticstudies.com

 

[itzmered]

Fish swallow hooks with lead sinkers in them and the fisherman cuts the line. Deer are wounded and the hunter does not find them. The eagle feeds off the carcass. Here is a good article by the Minnesota Raptor center that did a study of this for several years

Lead Poisoning

For the past 40 years lead exposure and lead poisoning have been major health issues for bald eagles received by or admitted to our clinic.The statistics are alarming:90% of the bald eagles received each year (120-130) for all types of problems have elevated lead residues in their blood20–25%...

www.raptor.umn.edu

 

[BertAllen]

Fish swallow hooks with lead sinkers in them and the fisherman cuts the line. Deer are wounded and the hunter does not find them. The eagle feeds off the carcass. Here is a good article by the Minnesota Raptor center that did a study of this for several years

Lead Poisoning

For the past 40 years lead exposure and lead poisoning have been major health issues for bald eagles received by or admitted to our clinic.The statistics are alarming:90% of the bald eagles received each year (120-130) for all types of problems have elevated lead residues in their blood20–25%...

www.raptor.umn.edu

You had better not shoot a deer here and let it get away. Jail time +.
Why would you cut the fishing line if you have a fish on. I kept 100 walleye last year and not one of them had any lead in them and this was on a very busy duck hunting lake within 10 minutes of me.

@BertAllen you've just said it yourself: ducks eat lead shot when foraging, then an eagle catches and eats the duck. Or a bird or animal is shot but survives long enough to escape then lives a long and happy life until its caught by an eagle.

We have many Bald Eagles near me and even when they are nesting they never go after ducks, at least not live ones.

 

[Birdbabe]

It's TRUE, the raptor and the scavenger eat the prey with the lead already in the bodies, they, then, get the lead poisoning. We had a Condor at Liberty wildlife with lead poisoning, she most likely ate something that had the lead in it, it took a long time to clear her,,activated charcoal , given orally, is a decent lead remover.

 

[Birdbabe]

@itzmered ,,I just watched that video, poor baby,

 

[melissasparrots]

Hunters are starting to go lead free. Our local raptor rehab sees a definite influx of eagles with lead poisoning showing up during deer season. Hunters shoot a deer and then sometimes can't find it. It would help if our state would allow the use of blood tracking dogs in order to prevent some of that lost game. Some hunters do a sloppy job of field dressing the animal and leave lead contaminated body parts in the field. Waterfowl and upland game is sometimes crippled and not found. It helps if they hunt with a retriever type dog to find these downed birds. I've known falconers who's hawks have died from lead poisoning after catching a seemingly healthy rabbit that had a lead pellet in it. Just yesterday actually, my Harris hawk thought he hit the mother load when he found a long dead deer carcass right on the boarder between public and private land. I'm watching him closely. I don't think he managed to get much to eat off it, but he certainly didn't want to give up his "prize" very readily. He was probably on it for a few minutes before I realized he wasn't following me and the dogs like usual.

Hunters cite various reasons for still using lead. Some believe if you shoot in the head all the lead stays in the head. X-rays have shown that the lead splinters off and contaminates a large area of meat. Some like lead because it hurts less if you accidentally bite a lead pellet instead of a steel one while eating wild game. Some feel that in certain situations lead holds a better or more predictable shot pattern when hunting a certain type of quarry. The word is getting out. Its just slow to convince people to shoot lead free when they learned using lead and it's cheaper. Many conservation organizations are pushing for lead free hunting. I did a little bit of raptor education at one of those events for an organization that was pushing lead free ammo and providing free ammo for various shooting activities going on at the event. Many older hunters are really stuck on using lead.

 

[Shezbug]

I believe a few years ago one of the main sites around here for duck shooting was shut down for the season because of increased levels of lead in the water. From memory it was discovered because of an influx of sick wildlife being captured and turned in to vets and rehabbers with lead related health issues being found in the area.

 

[Hawk12237]

@BertAllen you've just said it yourself: ducks eat lead shot when foraging, then an eagle catches and eats the duck. Or a bird or animal is shot but survives long enough to escape then lives a long and happy life until its caught by an eagle.

The prime diet of a bald eagle is fish. Sure they'll take other prey, if fish isn't readily available. Fish are known to contain lead and mercury at times. Contaminated waters.
My opinion, it's not all bullets we have to worry about, it's the water.....

 

[itzmered]

The prime diet of a bald eagle is fish. Sure they'll take other prey, if fish isn't readily available. Fish are known to contain lead and mercury at times. Contaminated waters.
My opinion, it's not all bullets we have to worry about, it's the water.....

Not all Eagles live where there is ample feeding on fish. I wish I had my camera with yesterday. Road kill deer on the side of the road with 7 eagles sitting in the tree next to it. 4 adults and 3 juveniles. I watch the eagles hunt the fields all the time around here

 

[Hawk12237]

Not all Eagles live where there is ample feeding on fish. I wish I had my camera with yesterday. Road kill deer on the side of the road with 7 eagles sitting in the tree next to it. 4 adults and 3 juveniles. I watch the eagles hunt the fields all the time around here

True, but their primary food diet is fish. They'll take a wide variety of other prey. They are optimist. In other words if the opportunity is there for prey, they'll go for it. Including road kill. But give them a choice of prey, they'll take fish over all else every time. Eagles have been known to travel over 250 miles to get to water where there is fish. Then come back to their nest.
We have a nesting pair straight back behind our property, they pull pike and suckers from the large creek there.
We also have a nesting pair of owls in our tree in front yard...you may recall the babies I posted last year. Cute as heck!!
I've raised birds of prey and owls long before I got into parrots. Including ospreys, my favorite raptor. I'll post a pick of my past owl when I dig it up. He was quite the ham.
The red tails were a bit skittish. Still have the scar where one of the two nailed me with the beak....there's no parrot out there that can bite as hard as a bird of prey...I swear to that.
DDT chemical nearly wiped out the eagles.... When they banned the chemical, eagles and other birds of prey began making a come back. I don't buy into the fact it's lead from bullets, that would have to be bird shot. And there's a lot of hunters that prefer steel shot instead of lead anyway.
I don't know many that use lead shot. Steel shot has been the go to bullet since the early 80's.
Rifle bullets being lead sometimes are also sometimes copper plated. The volocity of a rifle bullet is usually through and through in game. So the chance of lead being eaten by an eagle is pretty small. Even from bird shot.
I just don't buy into that theory, sorry. The source may be lead, but highly doubt it's from bullets. I'd need to see the facts to believe that.

 

[Hawk12237]

Hunters are starting to go lead free. Our local raptor rehab sees a definite influx of eagles with lead poisoning showing up during deer season. Hunters shoot a deer and then sometimes can't find it. It would help if our state would allow the use of blood tracking dogs in order to prevent some of that lost game. Some hunters do a sloppy job of field dressing the animal and leave lead contaminated body parts in the field. Waterfowl and upland game is sometimes crippled and not found. It helps if they hunt with a retriever type dog to find these downed birds. I've known falconers who's hawks have died from lead poisoning after catching a seemingly healthy rabbit that had a lead pellet in it. Just yesterday actually, my Harris hawk thought he hit the mother load when he found a long dead deer carcass right on the boarder between public and private land. I'm watching him closely. I don't think he managed to get much to eat off it, but he certainly didn't want to give up his "prize" very readily. He was probably on it for a few minutes before I realized he wasn't following me and the dogs like usual.

Hunters cite various reasons for still using lead. Some believe if you shoot in the head all the lead stays in the head. X-rays have shown that the lead splinters off and contaminates a large area of meat. Some like lead because it hurts less if you accidentally bite a lead pellet instead of a steel one while eating wild game. Some feel that in certain situations lead holds a better or more predictable shot pattern when hunting a certain type of quarry. The word is getting out. Its just slow to convince people to shoot lead free when they learned using lead and it's cheaper. Many conservation organizations are pushing for lead free hunting. I did a little bit of raptor education at one of those events for an organization that was pushing lead free ammo and providing free ammo for various shooting activities going on at the event. Many older hunters are really stuck on using lead.

I wish I was younger again. I miss having the red tails I had. God that was so much fun!!! You might remember my owls I posted last year. They were hams...lazy sods..lol..
They see a mouse they would be like..( You going to go catch my dinner for me? Could I have a glass of wine with that mouse). Lol....I'll dig the pictures back up.

About lead, you may have heard the lead problem in flint water system. That water has to goes somewhere, into rivers, lakes, and such. Animals drink that water. MSU did a study on that and found several animal types with lead contamination. Other animals eat those animals.
Another issue that came up is the placement of lead based paints. People remodel houses and are not allowed to really burn lead paint coated wood. So people piled them on land somewhere. Rodents chew that paint. Those rodents get eaten and lead seeps into ground.
I own at least a dozen guns, and belong to trap shooting club. Theres 30 of us in the club. None of us have lead base shots. They're steel shots. We been using steel shot since the 80's. It's the preferred go to now in bullets. I don't hunt animals, but love shooting. And Most rifle bullets are copper plated.
My theory is yea, maybe a very very small percentage of bullets are to blame, very small. The root cause is not the bullets. You have to take a good hard look at water contamination, land fill seepage, people that don't give a rat's hind end and throw there polluted crap anywhere, and military training sites..
I do hope they find the real cause, because it's sad for the eagles. I love those birds.

 

[Hawk12237]

This has been a concern of my vet for many years. I don't know if there is a difference in copper and lead bullets go as far as carrying power and killing power go, but there just aren't enough people aware.

The difference Mary is that lead is not as smooth as Cooper or steel, and creates a wind drag that slows the bullet.
Lead based bird shot shells ( as they call it) are being phased out, and since the 80's many have been switching to steel shot. Shot guns do use lead based slugs. They pack more power but are slow and drop drastically. Your game has to be in close range of at least. No more than a couple hundred feet to be accurate. Lead is heavy.
Now with rifles bullets they are lead core with a copper or steel plating. This cuts down on drag, and the bullets goes much farther with out drop and wind drag.
Some bullets are cased in metal or copper. Most military use it. So now a days, only amateurs are using the cheap lead bullets.

 

[Hawk12237]

If I may provide some insight into this topic, of lead..
I have been heavily involved with birds of prey since the 70's. In the 80's was part of the group that reinstated the peregrine falcon in the Grand Rapids Michigan Area. ( your free to look that up)
Heavy research was conducted prior, and lead was the least of the problems. Main cause of decline was eggs so brittle they broke. And many females died because of broken eggs inside. Industrial chemicals from farmers.

I'm currently part of the Osprey nesting program in and around northern michigan. My favorite raptor.
A report and study done by MSU, the dept natural resourses, and dept of aguculture, showed much of the problem in decline of many species.

Acid rain, Calcium depletion , inorganic acids, such as nitric and sulfuric acid, falls out of the atmosphere as rain, snow, mist and fog. Fallen, decaying leaves and other natural litter on the forest floor could decompose more slowly under acidic conditions. Which in turn depletes calcium in plants and soil, critical at egg-laying time, when calcium demand is highest for female birds, or during the period, when calcium supplements are often provided to growing young.

Low levels of soil calcium might also affect a wide range of prey which other predators eat. Acidic conditions also increase the amounts of toxic aluminum and heavy metals (such as lead, cadmium and mercury) in small prey, this is injested by other predators that feed on them.

Kestrels for example, They had elevated stress hormones and high rates of nest abandonment from chemical contamination.

There is a strong relationship between human population density and the number of threatened mammal and bird species at a given point in time.

If we get to 11 billion people population in the world, which is where we're supposed to peak, then the amount of space you have per person is a lot smaller. When you're left with less space, there's virtually no space left for most all other species.

With the stopping of China buying our recycling in many many states, this will all ( as it currently is) ends up in land fill, and causes a big big problem for many species of animals. Tins, aluminum, plastics, you name it that China used to take from us...not any more.

Lead from bullets accounts for less than 1 %.
of the overall problem.