The California condor is one of the largest flying birds in North America, with a wingspan that stretches nearly 10 feet, helping it reach speeds of up to 50 miles per hour. This majestic bird once ruled the skies of the Pacific coast, long before European settlers arrived. Since then, indiscriminate poaching, habitat destruction, lead […]
Tag: lead ammunition
Pheasant meat sold for food found to contain many tiny shards of toxic lead
Eating pheasant killed using lead shot is likely to expose consumers to raised levels of lead in their diet, even if the meat is carefully prepared to remove the shotgun pellets and the most damaged tissue. A study has found that pheasants killed by lead shot contain many fragments of lead too small to detect […]
Game over for UK shooting season as bird flu and Brexit take a heavy toll
Bird flu has managed to do to game shooting what animal rights activists have been trying to achieve for decades – with a little help from Brexit. Dozens of pheasant and partridge shoots have been called off ahead of the shooting season after an unprecedented outbreak of avian flu in France left gamekeepers in the […]
47% of Arizona’s bald eagles had chronic lead poisoning in 2021
PHOENIX — A new study from the journal Science found that almost half of bald eagles and golden eagles in Arizona and 37 other states suffered from chronic lead poisoning. The main way eagles consume lead is through their diet. Lead bullets and shot used in hunting game and varmints break apart on impact, and […]
European raptors including eagles, goshawks and vultures significantly reduced in number due to lead ammunition poisoning
According to the first study to evaluate these implications across Europe, poisoning caused by preying on or scavenging animals shot by hunters using lead ammunition has left many raptors—or birds of prey—far smaller than they should be. When birds such as eagles and Red Kites scavenge carcasses or consume injured animals with toxic lead pieces […]
The voluntary phase-out of lead shot in the UK has had almost no effect, with lead discovered in 99.5 percent of birds killed
According to a survey, a voluntary phase-out of lead shot in the UK had almost no effect, with 99.5 percent of birds killed containing the hazardous metal. While other sectors have been compelled to phase out lead, which has been banned from paint and fuel for decades, shooters are still allowed to use it, despite […]
Bald eagle rebound stunted by poisoning from lead ammunition
Bald eagle populations have slowly recovered from near devastation after the government banned DDT in 1972, but another ongoing issue has weakened that rebound—lead poisoning from gunshot ammunition. A new study, published in the Journal of Wildlife Management, finds that despite increasing numbers of bald eagles, poisoning from eating dead carcasses or parts contaminated by […]
Is it the last blast for lead shot? Biggest shake-up in 500 years for game shooting as ban looms on ‘toxic’ ammunition
Under consideration is the phasing out of lead ammunition across all environments in England, Scotland and Wales. Shooting organisations say that the full legal ban could take as long as eight years to come into force – although they are encouraging their members to move to non-lead ammunition within the next four years. Tim Bonner, […]