Bald Eagles are being poisoned.
- Thread starter Recusant
- Start date
Recusant
Hellcat
I just read that in California, lead ammunition can only be used at gun ranges, for the time being. Changes may be ahead.
TidalWave
Professional
castshooter
Alpha
I live in AK where biologists estimate there are more bald eagles now than ever before. They surround my house every day. I switched to nontoxic shot as the law required, but Alaska Natives still use lead shot and (more often) .22 rimfire rifles for their waterfowl hunting which mostly takes place in the spring. As a forester for over 50 years I have never seen any evidence of wildlife of any kind suffering from ingesting lead. Animals shot with lead bullets from rifles are not very often gut shot by the way. Steel shot does result in more wounded waterfowl not retrieved according to my observations. I believe that in many places the gun control movement and the anti-lead bullet movement are closely tied. It's possible that commercial fishing here uses and loses much more lead than does sport fishing.
HansGruber
Ronin
Are lungs typically part of a gut pile, perchance?
castshooter
Alpha
Thanks for your question. Lungs can be. However, bullets actually stuck in a lung is a pretty rare occurrence. More often those bullets will be found in the ribs, which in AK at least the law requires be taken out for human consumption. Like a bullet shot vertically into the sky and then landing on a person to injure them, a bullet found in a gut pile to then remain in a creature eating that gut pile could happen, but unless there is peer reviewed research that includes a control situation for comparison, it appears to be theoretical rather than an actual and tangible danger.
HansGruber
Ronin
Switched to copper huh…
castshooter
Alpha
Thanks. I have looked for peer reviewed research on this and have found none. That is comparisons of habitats that have hunters taking game with lead bullets compared with similar or identical habitats where lead bullets are not allowed, and statistically proofed comparisons of mortality rates of species such as eagles, vultures, covids, etc. etc. and additional kinds of research. All animals eventually die, and it's seldom from old age by the way. Thanks again.
HansGruber
Ronin
Lead information for deer hunters
Information discovered in spring 2008 indicates that small lead fragments often are present in hunter-harvested venison, particularly ground venison
While not in wildlife, this is a study showing that lead fragments do show up in harvested venison humans consume.
It’s in the gut piles, too…unless one simply wants to dispense with logic because of their preconceived views.
castshooter
Alpha
Yes, growing up farming we killed our animals for consumption using lead bullets much of the time e.g. you can wring a chicken's neck but not a hog's. So there may have been bullet fragments, but I never heard of any health implications from it (did have some cousins that were poor readers though). But what we gun people need to see are mortality studies of the raptors, covids, etc that some believe die of lead consumption derived from hunting. Here in the AK city where I live road-kills result in eagle and raven mortality as autos come along and the birds don't leave the road-kill fast enough.
shanneba
Custom
The Bald Eagle is making a great comeback.
The primary diet for bald eagles is fish.
In the late 1980s Indiana released ~70 Bald Eagle Chicks at a reservoir in Southern Indiana.
Upon reaching adulthood at 4-5 years old, bald eagles return to within 50-100 miles of where they fledged.
Indiana's first successful bald eagle nests in this 1900's occurred in 1991.
The state's last successful nest before then was in 1897.
In 1991 3 Bald Eagles chicks were fletched in Indiana, in 2007 that number was 121.
Indiana DNR data:
A remarkable story comes from one of the 73 eaglets first brought to Indiana.
Bald eagle #C43 was spotted around Monroe Lake in late May 2015.
She has been seen intermittently by outdoor recreationalists since then.
Records state that C43 was removed from a nest in Whitestone Harbor, Alaska, on July 22, 1988, making her 30 years old at the time of her last sighting in 2018, arguably one of the oldest bald eagles in Indiana. C43 is a powerful reminder of the tireless and determined effort to recover this species, and a symbol of hope for our state’s endangered species.
In the late 1960′s and early 1970′s, it was determined that (DDE), the principal breakdown product of DDT, accumulated in the fatty tissues of the adult females and impaired calcium release that is necessary for egg shell formation, thus inducing thin shells and reproductive failure.
On December 31, 1972, DDT was banned from use in the United States.
In 1963, a National Audubon Society survey reported only 417 active nests in the lower 48 States.
In 1994, about 4,450 occupied breeding areas were reported by the States.
Compared to 1974, the number of occupied breeding areas in the lower 48 States has increased by 462 percent,
and since 1990, there has been a 47 percent increase.
The species is doubling its breeding population every 6-7 years since the late 1970′s.
The primary diet for bald eagles is fish.
In the late 1980s Indiana released ~70 Bald Eagle Chicks at a reservoir in Southern Indiana.
Upon reaching adulthood at 4-5 years old, bald eagles return to within 50-100 miles of where they fledged.
Indiana's first successful bald eagle nests in this 1900's occurred in 1991.
The state's last successful nest before then was in 1897.
In 1991 3 Bald Eagles chicks were fletched in Indiana, in 2007 that number was 121.
- In 2020, over 350 eagle nests were reported in Indiana.
Indiana DNR data:
| Year | Nesting Territories | Attempts |
|---|
1989 | 2 | 1 |
1999 | 21 | 20 |
2009 | 94 | 90 |
A remarkable story comes from one of the 73 eaglets first brought to Indiana.
Bald eagle #C43 was spotted around Monroe Lake in late May 2015.
She has been seen intermittently by outdoor recreationalists since then.
Records state that C43 was removed from a nest in Whitestone Harbor, Alaska, on July 22, 1988, making her 30 years old at the time of her last sighting in 2018, arguably one of the oldest bald eagles in Indiana. C43 is a powerful reminder of the tireless and determined effort to recover this species, and a symbol of hope for our state’s endangered species.
In the late 1960′s and early 1970′s, it was determined that (DDE), the principal breakdown product of DDT, accumulated in the fatty tissues of the adult females and impaired calcium release that is necessary for egg shell formation, thus inducing thin shells and reproductive failure.
On December 31, 1972, DDT was banned from use in the United States.
In 1963, a National Audubon Society survey reported only 417 active nests in the lower 48 States.
In 1994, about 4,450 occupied breeding areas were reported by the States.
Compared to 1974, the number of occupied breeding areas in the lower 48 States has increased by 462 percent,
and since 1990, there has been a 47 percent increase.
The species is doubling its breeding population every 6-7 years since the late 1970′s.
Keystone19250
SAINT
An incredible comeback, thanks for sharing that information.
shanneba
Custom
While lead poisoning will make the headlines along with for calls for ammunition changes, the US FWS has a good
Report from 2016 that lists causes of death of Golden Eagles (absent is a similar table for Blad Eagles)
More than 3 times more Golden Eagles die from Electrocution than die from Lead Poisoning.
Surprising that Drowning is not far behind Lead poisoning.
Bald and Golden Eagles Population demographics
Table 8. Causes of death for satellite-tagged golden eagles in North America, 1997–2013, extrapolated to estimate total annual golden eagle mortality attributable to different causes.
Cause Total est.
Shot 926
Electrocution 504
Poisoning 1,025
Collision 545
Trap 231
Lead Toxicosis 160
Starvation/disease 1,334
Injury 427
..
Drowning 119
Report from 2016 that lists causes of death of Golden Eagles (absent is a similar table for Blad Eagles)
More than 3 times more Golden Eagles die from Electrocution than die from Lead Poisoning.
Surprising that Drowning is not far behind Lead poisoning.
Bald and Golden Eagles Population demographics
Table 8. Causes of death for satellite-tagged golden eagles in North America, 1997–2013, extrapolated to estimate total annual golden eagle mortality attributable to different causes.
Cause Total est.
Shot 926
Electrocution 504
Poisoning 1,025
Collision 545
Trap 231
Lead Toxicosis 160
Starvation/disease 1,334
Injury 427
..
Drowning 119
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castshooter
Alpha
Talking about the long-lived eagle mentioned here, I've been to Whitestone Harbor many times. Just the other day Keith Walker, who ran Whitestone Logging for some number of decades passed away. Like all Alaska loggers he had run out of wood and run out of markets. The Alaska forest products industry, which was required by federal law to harvest under sustained yield principals and employed 4,000 in high-paying (mostly union) jobs, was shut down by the federal government during the spotted owl controversy. Alaska has never had any spotted owls. Alaska loggers are an endangered species and their population will not recover unless China and Russia are victorious in the war that may be just now beginning. Should that happen you can safely bet that China and/or Russia will not worry about eagles, spotted owls, salmon, bears or sustained yield. And thank you for the data from Shanneba BTW. I still would like to see a peer reviewed study, with controls, regarding lead ingestion by raptors, or by any predators.
Kodiak Cowboy
Custom
Thousands of Bald Eagles on Kodiak Island and throughout Alaska. Thick like crows sometimes! No shortage of them around here do to lead poison!
castshooter
Alpha
Thank you Kodiak Cowboy. I am sensitive to this because both the state Health and Social Services (now to be split into two departments) and ADF&G have in recent months come out with press releases that allege lead bullets (not lead shot, but bullets with lead cores) killing predators that eat game killed by hunters. They even had a story running in the Fairbanks Daily Newsminer. I am unable to find any research, published and peer reviewed or otherwise, that had a control area to compare with an area that allows hunting with lead bullets. Most hunters find the bullet during butchering anyway. I am therefore very skeptical, and I am suspicious of the biologists at ADF&G and the health care people at DH&SS. Thanks again.
Pitdogg2
Professional
Both my son's had something I never had in my youth and well into my adulthood. They get to see live Bald Eagles and Osprays fishing in lakes. I've seen more eagles in my last 10 than I did in my first 50+ years. I was rewarded one afternoon while leaving work. There was a pair breeding way up in the sky, falling to earth flying away and repeat. Incredible sight to see.
I hope it never ends.
I hope it never ends.
Bassbob
Emissary
There has been at least one nesting pair of bald eagles on the river behind my house for as long as I have lived here (22 years). We se one almost every morning. The other morning the wife saw one swoop down and grab a rabbit or something in the farmer's field on the other side of the river from me. We see them fishing the river regularly. See their young. We also have owls and bald faced buzzards.
Kodiak Cowboy
Custom
In my opinion. The Biologist's at the ADF&G. Are like Biologists in every other state I'm assuming. Some are college educated idiots. While some actually know something. Hard saying?