#44 - Choosing the Unleaded Option

Above: Eagles most commonly ingest lead by eating gut piles or carcasses containing ammunition fragments. This includes the carcasses of prairie dogs and gophers - Killing these for fun is a popular activity in Montana.

Dangerous dining . . .
Golden eagles, bald eagles, crows, and magpies feed on deer and elk gut piles left behind by hunters. Since many hunters used lead bullets, the birds are being poisoned by consuming the fragments of lead scattered throughout the gut piles. Scientists have identified 130 wildlife species sickened by lead bullet fragments, but eagles are especially vulnerable. Their strong stomach acids that digest bones also dissolve the lead particles, allowing the toxin to easily enter their bloodstream. A recent study by Conservation Science Global Nearly in the eastern USA found chronic lead poisoning in 46% of bald and 47% of golden eagles. Another study done by the Raptor View Reseach Institute in western Montana from 2011-1018 found that over 90% of the golden eagles had elevated levels of lead in their blood.

The problem with lead bullets . . .
Unlike copper, when a lead bullet is shot into the body of an animal it shatters into hundreds of tiny fragments that spread several inches from the wound channel. Copper bullets simply don't do this (see photo and caption on right). Those who shoot prairie dogs or gophers for fun may like to think they are feeding the eagles who scavenge on the carcasses. In reality they are not feeding the eagles, THEY ARE POISONING THEM! If deer or elk are killed with lead bullets, some of the fragments can even make their way into meat consumed by the hunters and their families.

Solutions . . .
Scientists have known for over a century that lead is poisonous to birds, but it wasn't until the 1960's that biologists began linking health problems in waterfowl to the lead shot used in shotgun shells. Ducks and swans ingested spent lead shot, mistaking it for grit needed to digest food. Finally in 1991 after studies showed that eagles were dying from eating lead-contaminated waterfowl, the US fish and Wildlife Service banned the use of lead shot for waterfowl hunting. Meanwhile in Montana, the 2011 state legislature prohibited the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks from placing restrictions on lead bullets. So, it's up to individual Montana hunters to do the right thing. Choose the unleaded option!

Term: lead poisoning

CLICK HERE to access a great article from Montana Outdoors (Montana, Fish, Wildlife and Parks). Watch the video below (3:47).