Nearly Half Of US Bald Eagles Suffer Lead Poisoning

Well, this is pretty crappy. We just can't not screw things up. All it takes is such a little bit of lead to mess with these birds and most likely kill them. We really are killing of so much wildlife areas, the Colusa thing in Miami recently comes to mind, all the manatees that we have had to bring in tons of lettuce to feed because we have destroyed their natural habitat.....

While the bald eagle population has rebounded from the brink of extinction since the U.S. banned the pesticide DDT in 1972, harmful levels of toxic lead were found in the bones of 46% of bald eagles sampled in 38 states from California to Florida, researchers reported in the journal Science.

Similar rates of lead exposure were found in golden eagles, which scientists say means the raptors likely consumed carrion or prey contaminated by lead from ammunition or fishing tackle.

“This is the first time for any wildlife species that we’ve been able to evaluate lead exposure and population level consequences at a continental scale,” said study co-author Todd Katzner, a wildlife biologist at U.S. Geological Survey in Boise, Idaho. “It’s sort of stunning that nearly 50% of them are getting repeatedly exposed to lead.”

Lead is a neurotoxin that even in low doses impairs an eagle’s balance and stamina, reducing its ability to fly, hunt and reproduce. In high doses, lead causes seizures, breathing difficulty and death.

apnews.com...

I'm curious... where do you think this lead is coming from?'

originally posted by: TheSpanishArcher
Well, this is pretty crappy. We just can't not screw things up. All it takes is such a little bit of lead to mess with these birds and most likely kill them. We really are killing of so much wildlife areas, the Colusa thing in Miami recently comes to mind, all the manatees that we have had to bring in tons of lettuce to feed because we have destroyed their natural habitat.....

While the bald eagle population has rebounded from the brink of extinction since the U.S. banned the pesticide DDT in 1972, harmful levels of toxic lead were found in the bones of 46% of bald eagles sampled in 38 states from California to Florida, researchers reported in the journal Science.

Similar rates of lead exposure were found in golden eagles, which scientists say means the raptors likely consumed carrion or prey contaminated by lead from ammunition or fishing tackle.

“This is the first time for any wildlife species that we’ve been able to evaluate lead exposure and population level consequences at a continental scale,” said study co-author Todd Katzner, a wildlife biologist at U.S. Geological Survey in Boise, Idaho. “It’s sort of stunning that nearly 50% of them are getting repeatedly exposed to lead.”

Lead is a neurotoxin that even in low doses impairs an eagle’s balance and stamina, reducing its ability to fly, hunt and reproduce. In high doses, lead causes seizures, breathing difficulty and death.

apnews.com...

a reply to: TheSpanishArcher

I'm not sure about the source of the contamination. Ammunition and fishing tackle...

Maybe more from industrial pollution.

The bane of modern society..

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: TheSpanishArcher

I'm not sure about the source of the contamination. Ammunition and fishing tackle...

Maybe more from industrial pollution.

The bane of modern society..

Is it human nature to kill what we love? I feel it
debatable however it is that ole symbol of freedom, which means a predator always over you surveying...

Is there really a problem though? 46% of the dead eagles sampled had toxic levels of lead. That means 54% of the dead eagles sampled did not die of lead. Since there's less lead used now than any time in the last 100+ years and no issues whatsoever with the eagle population I say waste of time.

Lead is no longer used in fishing tackle to a great extent because it was found to be accumulating in the fish. Eagles don't have to be eating the lead in order to be absorbing the lead from the fish they eat.

It's like mercury poisoning and why they tell pregnant women not to eat large fish.

a reply to: ketsuko

Lead is still used for fishing weights, and it is galvanize coated for extra toxicity. All the decades of accumulation of lead bird shot pellets from shotguns hunting water foul over slow lakes and lost fishing weights add up cumulatively.

Is lead used in cloud seeding or chemtrails? Are they able to distinguish how old the eagles are? It is easy to blame the fish but would all the eagles in the study have regular access to fish as one of their main diet sources?

How much lead shot would be needed to toxify a carcass and how fast would that occur? I know most hunters don't always field dress the animals and take the entire thing and if they hit the animal in a large muscle area they would take that and shot would not necessarily be left behind. Reading the article it seemed to me that the blame was being assumptive on certain things. It's my gut that it has more to do with environmental crap being sprayed than hunters or fishermen.

Dang!!??!! If the birds are getting (lead poisoning) it? Where does that leave us?
LOL!
More BS commie "mother earth" crap.
They don't care about the "Bald Eagle". It's about CONTROLLING YOU. Somehow, in some way, you must surender something to "protect" the "Bald Eagle".
I wish people could/would be "educated", and stop falling for this crap.

Associated press saying it's from ammunition and fishing tackle means it is not coming from those sources. It would take a lot of investigative journalism which they never do to show any evidence it's all coming from that. Banning guns and ammo and fishing ( not enjoying life) is what they always cheer for the average citizen deserves.

Banning? jeezus you guys sure like to fuss. How about steel shot, it's not lead..right.

originally posted by: Charliebrowndog
Is lead used in cloud seeding or chemtrails? Are they able to distinguish how old the eagles are? It is easy to blame the fish but would all the eagles in the study have regular access to fish as one of their main diet sources?

How much lead shot would be needed to toxify a carcass and how fast would that occur? I know most hunters don't always field dress the animals and take the entire thing and if they hit the animal in a large muscle area they would take that and shot would not necessarily be left behind. Reading the article it seemed to me that the blame was being assumptive on certain things. It's my gut that it has more to do with environmental crap being sprayed than hunters or fishermen.

From Wikipedia...

The bald eagle is an opportunistic feeder which subsists mainly on fish, which it swoops down and snatches from the water with its talons.

Waterfowl are highly unlikely to ingest lead rounds in a failed hunt in which the quarry escaped wounded. People can get together with buddies on a boat and shoot off 30 pounds of lead in one skeet shooting session. What then happens to that lead is it dissolves into toxic substances and fish are absorbing it through their gills, which is their respiratory organ that transfers chemicals to their bloodstream.

From the EPA

An estimated
9,000 non-military outdoor ranges exist in the
United States, collectively shooting millions of
pounds of lead annually. Some ranges have
operated for as long as several generations.
Historical operations at ranges involved leaving
expended lead bullets and shot uncollected on
ranges. Many of these ranges continue to
operate in the same manner as in the past.

It is estimated that approximately four percent
(4%) (80,000 tons/year) of all the lead produced
in the United States in the late 1990’s (about 2
million tons/year), is made into bullets and shot.
Taking into account rounds used off-range, and
rounds used at indoor ranges, it is clear that
much of this 160,000,000 pounds of lead shot/
bullets finds its way into the environment at
ranges.

SOURCE

Bold for visibility.

a reply to: vonclod

I appreciate your suggestion, however, steel shot damages the bore of a shotgun barrel, and would ruin the rifling in rifles and pistols, and these guns get very expensive. Hunters will sometimes use steel shot, but people shooting for target practice, or probably more commonly, target destruction, they will opt for the cheaper ammunition.

originally posted by: DirtWasher
a reply to: vonclod

I appreciate your suggestion, however, steel shot damages the bore of a shotgun barrel, and would ruin the rifling in rifles and pistols, and these guns get very expensive. Hunters will sometimes use steel shot, but people shooting for target practice, or probably more commonly, target destruction, they will opt for the cheaper ammunition.

Yes, it's more expensive, I'n not suggesting bullets made of steel, for handguns, or rifles. I suppose you could be correct that steel shot could wear out the barrel quicker, maybe moreso on a rifled sg barrel. I suggest this for birdshot. I dunno, some places have already banned lead shot.