A young condor survives lead poisoning
Birds and humans alike are in danger of eating lead ammunition left in hunted meat. Non-lead ammo is the solution and it's gaining traction with hunters.
On October 4, a young California condor named A9 spread his enormous wings over Northern California, soaring over mist-clouded ancient redwoods for the first time. He flew over the Klamath River, now filled with salmon swimming past torn-down dams, and found a meal — a dead animal left behind by a human. Two weeks later, during a routine health check, veterinarians found lethal levels of lead in A9’s blood.
He was taken to Sequoia Park Zoo in Eureka, California, and given intravenous chelation therapy. A chemical that binds to lead allows the bird’s kidneys to remove and secrete the harmful heavy metal through urine. The therapy causes fatigue and shouldn’t be done too often due to the risk of organ damage.
Last week, after 22 days at the zoo and three rounds of chelation therapy, A9 returned to the wild. He joins 18 other condors flying over Yurok Country (Redwood National Park), eight of which also tested positive for lead.
The first wild condor to fly Utah’s Zion National Park was not so lucky. At five years old, he was found dead in a juniper tree last summer. Scans revealed a large lead bullet fragment in his gut. Lead poisoning causes paralysis of the digestive tract. The bird dies slowly of starvation and dehydration.
The natural lifespan of a California condor can be 60 years. A9 is 2 1/2 years old.
Lead poisoning is the leading cause of death in critically endangered California condors, the largest birds of North America. The last wild condor was captured nearly 40 years ago and a captive breeding program saved the species. Condors that have been reintroduced near national parks, where hunting is banned, are still consuming lead in carcasses left behind on neighboring lands. With bald eagles, hawks and humans also at risk, increasing numbers of states and hunting associations are now promoting non-lead ammunition.
“Engaging proactively with the shooting community to empower them with knowledge about the effects of lead on wildlife is critically important. This community can provide clean offal to our wild scavengers, spread the word to others with their passion for the outdoors about non-lead shooting options ...”
— Northern California Condor Restoration Program
Carcasses full of lead
Unlike copper bullets, lead bullets scatter when they hit a target, sometimes into many hundreds of particles up to 15 inches away from the point of impact. Studies have shown that lead persists in hunted meat that is consumed by birds and humans alike.
“It almost seems inevitable that we will lose a bird or birds to lead poisoning if nothing changes,” said Chris West, a senior biologist and program manager with the Northern California Condor Restoration and Yurok Wildlife Department, in a press release. “The use of lead ammunition for dispatching wild or domesticated animals poses a serious threat to our new flock. In addition to condors, lead also presents a grave risk to eagles and other raptors.”
Tens of millions of conservation dollars have prevented the extinction of the California condor. Hundreds of committed humans across several western states, including tribe members, scientists, veterinarians, volunteers, philanthropists and zoo and park staff, made it possible for A9 to exist and fly free. One human’s bullet nearly killed him. And now, thanks again to human ingenuity, he’s survived his first brush with lead.
If new incentives and education programs are successful, lead bullets could be a thing of the past.
Last month, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service launched a website to reimburse hunters for non-lead ammunition purchases in seven national wildlife refuges. Non-lead ammo has long been required nationwide for hunting waterfowl, which has saved millions of birds.
To regulate or incentivize? That is the question
Banning lead bullets remains a contentious issue but there’s increasing momentum among hunters to move to lead alternatives. Lead is the cheapest ammunition. Some hunters consider it the best ammunition for hunting large animals at long range. Others, like those who founded Hunting with NonLead, say lead alternatives can be “extremely accurate and lethal.”
In recent years, many states have implemented programs that incentivize hunters to avoid lead and educate them to remove offal (guts) from the scene.
Utah: Hunters Helping Condors provides a free box of lead-free ammunition to those hunting near Zion National Park.
Arizona: 85 percent of hunters are using non-lead. Hunters who use lead but who remove their gut piles are entered into a raffle for gift cards and access to coveted hunting grounds.
Hunters for Eagle Conservation provides $40-$60 vouchers for non-lead ammunition in Montana, New York and Wyoming.
In 2019, California became the first state to ban the use of lead bullets for shooting any mammal, including hunting or depredation of pests on agricultural land. It remains legal to buy, sell and use lead bullets for purposes unrelated to hunting, like target practice or use in personal firearms.
What’s clear from A9’s story is that there’s still a lot of lead bullets out there.
Hunters groups like Sporting Lead-Free are spreading the word about using non-lead ammunition. They question the feasibility of outright bans, saying they are impossible enforce (copper and lead bullets look the same) and don’t confront the essential task of education:
As sportsmen and women, we know we’re the backbone of conservation. A lot of people are not aware of this issue. As soon as they learn about it, they’re happy to make the switch.
E&E News by Politico recently covered the topic of incentives versus bans, noting the debate goes back to the 1970s.
“A lead ammo compromise? Incentives edge out bans:
“I think a lead ban is not the way to go,” said Montana-based wildlife biologist Vincent Slabe, who led the 2022 study published in Science about the chronic and acute lead poisoning in eagles. “What I have found is that communicating about this issue and encouraging voluntary use of lead ammunition is just a much more healthy way to spread the word.”
The North American Non-Lead Partnership, lead by The Peregrine Fund, has brought together dozens of state agencies, outdoors groups and bird advocates looking to “expand a coalition of hunters, anglers and other conservationists dedicated to improving ecosystem and wildlife health by choosing non-lead options.”
Reducing lead bullets will benefit not just condors but countless other species, including bald eagles, turkey vultures and red-tailed hawks. These birds are no longer on the brink of extinction like condors because they raise 2-3 chicks every year, whereas condors only raise one chick every other year and don’t reach sexual maturity for five to seven years. Even one condor is a huge loss, when only 500 are left on the planet. Find lead-free ammo here.
Lead fragments endanger humans as well
Humans are also at risk of eating lead in hunted meat. Consider this flyer from Michigan, “Lead Bullets and Venison, What Every Family Should know”:
Studies show that lead fragments are often found in venison shot with lead bullets. These pieces of lead are too small to be seen or felt while chewing. During processing, lead bullet fragments can get mixed further into the venison.
The National Park Service argues that much of this meat is tainted if lead ammunition was used:
Of the 324 randomly selected packages of ground venison, 34% contained metal fragments; some packages contained as many a 168 separate pieces.
Finally, a 2009 study published by PLOS One concluded that ten million hunters, their families, and low-income beneficiaries of venison donations risk exposure to lead from bullet fragments.
Fact: Hunting funds American conservation, lots of it
Did you know that taxes on the sales of guns and ammunition fund conservation in America to the tune of over $1 billion a year?1 Combined with hunting and fishing license fees and boat fuel taxes, these are a prime source of funding for government sponsored conservation. Almost every story we’ve posted on Earth Hope, whether it’s about frogs, birds, salmon, rivers, or turtles, involves a state or federal agency that receives funds from these taxes, which are used to buy land, hire biologists, track wildlife numbers, and conduct restoration.
Consider this post by adventure writer Jesse C. McEntee, who wonders if we ought to “Hug a Hunter?” because of their ecological and monetary contributions.2
More important than hugs, though, is dialogue. We must build coalitions and work together to spread the word about the dangers of lead to humans and wildlife. We can’t allow ideologies to put up walls. Please share this article with any hunters.
A tribe determined to bring condors home
I’ve written about the Yurok Tribe’s efforts to restore their entire world, including bringing California condors home, which includes Redwood National and State Parks. Known as prey-go-neesh in the Yurok language, condors are part of the Yurok’s ecological and spiritual family, believed to bring the world into balance. I’ve also written about economic incentives that saved the tri-colored blackbird.
Support the Yurok Tribe’s condor restoration program.
Watch the live condor video feed.
Earth Hope is not affiliated with the tribe or its condor program.
Jonathan P. Thompson, who writes “The Land Desk,” recently shared some marvelous photos of California condors in “The condors of Marble Canyon.”
Hopeful headlines
From AP News in Arizona: A rare condor hatched and raised by foster parents in captivity now gets to live wild
Milagra, which means miracle in Spanish, was rescued from her nest and hatched in captivity thanks to the care of her foster condor parents.
AP News: To save a dying swamp, Louisiana aims to restore the Mississippi River's natural flow
The 176 square mile (456 square kilometers) Maurepas Swamp just to the west of New Orleans holds Louisiana’s second largest contiguous forest, a beloved state wildlife refuge filled with water tupelo and bald cypress trees, their branches adorned by wisps of Spanish moss. A beloved recreation site, the swamp also houses bald eagles, ospreys, black bears and alligators and serves as a waystation for hundreds of different migratory birds.
… Miller likened the $330 million river diversion to watering a garden: “The swamp needs river water to be a good swamp.”
The New York Times: They Were the Last of Their Kind, in Captivity. Can 5 Survive the Wild?
Researchers are trying a new strategy to reintroduce Hawaiian crows, which have been extinct in the wild for two decades.
BBC Countryfile: Scientists just eradicated thousands of invasive predators from a group of remote UK islands. Here's why
More than 6,000 non-native stoats have been removed from Orkney – an archipelago off the north coast of Scotland.
Orkney’s wildlife, including rare birds and the unique Orkney vole, is showing promising signs of recovery as the Orkney Native Wildlife Project nears its final phase, according to a new RSPB report.
Australian Broadcasting (incredible photos!): ‘Unbelievable’ renaissance of rare cloud forest as unique species reclaim paradise
It’s five years since a widescale, $15 million eradication program rid the island of more than 300,000 mice and rats.
… “Because of our location and small amount of habitat, the rodents were the biggest threat to the ecology and biodiversity of the island … and the bounce-back has been enormous.”
CNN: Wisdom the albatross is 74 years old. She’s found a new partner and just laid another egg
In my recent story, “How poison is saving millions of seabirds,” I pointed out that Midway Atoll, where Wisdom nests, was among the first places where Island Conservation eradicated chick-eating rats.
Massachusetts farmers turn cranberry bogs back to wetlands in $6m initiative | Massachusetts | The Guardian
Point Reyes elk to roam free after major National Park Service change
This one is not exactly hopeful, but too wacky not to share:
Utah Officials Tell People To Stop Brining Turkeys In The Great Salt Lake | Cowboy State Daily
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About Earth Hope:
Earth Hope is a solutions-based journalism project that highlights environmental success stories from around the globe, because hope is the foundation of progress. I’m Amanda Royal, a former newspaper reporter and current eco-news junkie. Read more about this project and what inspired it.
Signing off with my latest from Notes:
Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program (WSFR) or Pittman Robertson Act of 1937.
For instance, deer in Scottland and Maui, where there are no predators, are overgrazing forests and endangering native species. Their only solutions are hunting and depredation. FYI, I’m not a hunter. I’ve done some fishing.
Thank you for this valuable information. I come from rural roots. Most of the hunters I know are good people. I will share this article with some of them.
Growing up an animal lover in the boonies, Texas, this is giving me complicated feelings and I wanted to scream and throw something until I read your section about the hunter incentive programs. How do you illicit these extreme emotional responses from me? Homicidal rage to hugs - you have a real gift 😄.
Thank you for all of the awesome articles and information. There are many more things I want to say but I will focus on staying positive instead. I appreciate you so much.