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Critically Endangered Condors: Get The Lead Out!

August 15, 2008


	©USFWS
	Only 300 California condors remain, but lead poisoning is killing many of them.

For most hunters, the act of killing takes place when they pull the trigger. But across the United States, some ammunition keeps killing long after it leaves the gun barrel.

The victims are not the targeted animals but instead, critically endangered animals who—instead of soaring in the skies—are hovering on the brink of extinction.

Two decades ago, the California Condor was nearly extinct when biologists intervened and saved North America's largest wild bird from extinction. A mere 300 critically endangered condors remain, and only half of them fly free; the others are captive in breeding programs.

Today, the successful program to save the California condor is in jeopardy because the wild birds are ingesting lead bullets left by hunters. In fact, lead poisoning is the condor's leading cause of death.

A Toxic Meal

When hunters shoot big game animals like deer and pigs in the wild, they remove the animals' innards and leave them in the woods. The scavenging condor arrives later and eats the pile of guts. The problem is, lead bullets are frequently left in the guts, and the condor ingests them.

This July, California rightfully took action to protect the condor by prohibiting lead shot in California condor territory—a measure that was fiercely opposed by the radical National Rifle Association. Also this year, food banks in several states pulled deer meat from their shelves because of lead contamination, and many other states have formed toxic shot advisory committees to take a hard look at the issue.

Many Call for a Nationwide Ban

The fact is, condors are not constrained by California state lines, and they soar into neighboring states. Voluntary programs regulating lead shot in some areas have resulted in significant reductions in lead usage, and lead shot has been banned in waterfowl hunting throughout the U.S. since 1991. But this is not good enough.

The Humane Society of the United States called for a nationwide ban on lead ammunition in June of 2008, the same time The Wildlife Society completed a technical review entitled Sources and Implications of Lead Ammunition and Fishing Tackle on Natural Resources.

Two months later the leading bird science group, The American Ornithologists' Union, concluded that removing the poisonous metal from bullets and shotgun pellets is the only way to save the highly endangered California condor. David Malakoff from Science Magazine covered the issue in his article Condor Rescue Program in Danger of Failure.

What You Can Do

If you live in California, please ask your assemblymember to oppose A.B. 2392, a bill that would weaken protections for the endangered California condor.