Lead bullet fragments in
carcasses left by hunters are poisoning endangered African vultures, a new
study has found
Date: March 15, 2018
Source: University of Cape Town
A third of all vultures caught
and tested in the Botswana study showed elevated levels of lead in their blood,
most likely due to ingesting lead bullet-contaminated flesh. Hunters' bullets
shatter inside their prey and can then be absorbed into the blood stream of the
vultures when they feed on these animals or their remains. This ingested lead
is highly toxic to birds.
"We were all shocked by how
widespread lead poisoning was for this population and just how clearly these
elevated levels were associated with recreational hunting activity," said
Dr Arjun Amar, Associate Professor from the University of Cape Town's
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, who supervised the research.
The study, published this week in
the international journal Science of the Total Environment, is based on
tests of nearly 600 critically endangered African White-backed Vultures. Higher
lead levels were found in the blood of vultures in the hunting season and in
hunting areas, suggesting that the source of the lead in their blood stream was
lead bullets used for hunting.
"The only logical explanation
for the patterns of lead poisoning we observed is if lead bullets were the
source of this contamination" said the study's lead author Beckie Garbett,
who conducted the research as part of her PhD.
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