Pioneering golden eagle found poisoned in Yellowstone

As bird is found with large amounts of lead in its body, a biologist asks ‘Is Yellowstone as protected as we once thought?’

Christine Peterson in Newcastle, Wyoming

Tue 16 Apr 2019 11.00 BSTLast modified on Tue 16 Apr 2019 15.57 BST

The pioneering golden eagle took to the skies above Yellowstone national park in the fall and flew north, to areas where humans were hunting game. A few months later it returned to the park and was found on the ground, dead.

Scientists performing a necropsy on the creature, the first to be tagged with a radio transmitter in the park, made an unhappy discovery: it had been poisoned by lead. They are now raising concerns over whether US national parks are as safe for wildlife as they seem.

“This bird had a substantial amount of lead put into its system in a very quick way,” said Todd Katzner, a research wildlife biologist with the US Geological Survey. “You don’t get that from breathing lead. It ingested something.”

The bird probably ingested lead ammunition fragments from big game carcasses. Lead bullets have been a source of controversy in the US hunting community for years. Conservationists argue for the use of alternatives such as copper bullets. Shooting sports advocates say non-lead ammunition is costly and that lead has been used for hundreds of years.

The topic has also become a flash point in national politics. In early 2017, the day before former president Barack Obama left office, his administration signed an order phasing out the use of lead ammunition and fishing tackle on most federal lands managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The ban was overturned less than two months later by the former interior secretary Ryan Zinke.

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Failure to ban toxic ammunition putting bird lives at risk

By BirdLife Europe, Thu, 04/02/2016 - 14:15

Birds in Europe will continue to be put at risk from lead poisoning, as the European Commission today announces it will continue allowing the chemical's use in ammunition.

Lead ammunition use will be regulated on a limited basis under the EU chemicals regulationREACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals), despite it being responsible for thousands of bird deaths every year.

Under REACH, the use of lead in ammunition could be banned completely through a so-called “restriction process”. Sadly the Commission has only chosen to focus on lead in wetlands, where a ban is already supposed to have been in place for many years. By taking this course, the Commission is ignoring the evidence of damage done by lead shots in other habitats and by rifle ammunition.

Lead is highly toxic to birds and people alike. A review by the University of Oxford found that 50,000 to 100,000 birds in the UK alone die of lead poisoning. Ducks and waders often mistake lead shot (small bullets) for grit (the stones they eat to help with digestion) and die a slow and painful death from the toxic effects.

Throughout the EU there are also frequently major cases of lead poisoning of raptors. One example is the poisoning of White-tailed Eagles, which eat carcases containing lead bullets every autumn. White-tailed Eagles and other raptors and vultures eat the carcasses of game species such as wild boar. Many wild boars that get shot do not die straight away and are not found by hunters. When scavenging on the carcasses of these species, raptors often ingest fragments of lead ammunition and die of lead poisoning.

The UN Convention on Migratory Species, which the EU has signed, has called on its signatories to phase out all lead ammunition within three years. Several EU Member States, such as Denmark and the Netherlands, have already done so. Partial bans have been proven to be ineffective and unenforceable. In the UK, for example, lead shot has been banned in wetlands only, but investigations showed that as many as 70% of the ducks shot in England still contained lead shot. These figures exclude Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

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Birds found with lead poisoning

LAUREN BERG lberg@newsvirginian.com

Birds from all over the state of Virginia are suffering from lead poisoning. Every year, the Virginia Wildlife Center receives 15 to 25 birds with symptoms of lead poisoning, including bald eagles and vultures.

On Wednesday, the Wildlife Center received a turkey vulture that was hit by a car. Upon further testing, it was discovered that the bird had lead in its blood system. The Center believes the vulture scavenged upon the remains of a deer that was killed during the illegal hunting season.

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Heavy metal hurting native birds

The kaka's penchant for unusual food has left a handful of chicks with the staggers and struggling not to throw up.

A spike in lead poisoning among New Zealand's resurgent endemic parrot population is being investigated by researchers.

Massey University's Wildbase Hospital in Palmerston North had two dead kaka chicks come in, and a post-mortem revealed lead poisoning was the cause of death.

They then found the birds' three nest-mates were also showing signs of being poisoned, including changes to their blood cells and nervous systems, causing the birds to regurgitate food and lose balance.

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Rehabilitated bald eagle takes flight, thanks to Audubon Society of Portland

Thanks to Audubon Society of Portland for sending along this new photo of a bald eagle taking flight shortly after rehabilitators released it near Longview, Wash.

The mature eagle was treated for months at Audubon's Wildlife Care Center before Friday's release. Blood tests and X-rays indicted it suffered from lead poisoning, a common problem for raptors in the Pacific Northwest.

Typically, according to wildlife experts, birds are poisoned when they ingest animals shot with lead ammunition or feed on gut piles left behind by hunters using lead ammunition. Most lead-poisoned birds die in the wild, becoming food for other animals and spreading lead toxicity through the food chain.

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2013/09/rehabilitated_bald_eagle_takes.html

Eagle being treated at Roseville bird clinic for lead poisoning

ROSEVILLE, CA - A golden eagle suffering from lead poisoning is being nursed back to health.

It was found on the ground in Colusa County near East Park Reservoir. A local wildlife rehab group brought the eagle into the Bird and Pet Clinic in Roseville this week with levels of lead that were off-the-chart. A big concern was whether the bird would survive and recover from the lead poisoning.

The eagle is paralyzed and can't use her feet or her talons; it'll take a month before the eagle may be able to stand. She also has some paralysis of her tongue. The eagle also has kidney problems.

But, after nearly a week at the clinic, the eagle has a good appetite again and is being treated with medicine twice a day.

Continued:  http://www.news10.net/news/article/234137/2/Eagle-being-treated-for-lead-poisoning

Dead condor found in Zion National Park in Utah

Lead poisoning suspected

January 2013. The Peregrine Fund, a driving force behind the conservation of Californian condors, had been hopeful that a pair of condors in Zion National Park would produce the first offspring in the state for many years. 

A Peregrine Fund spokesman said "Our hopeful pairing of adult condors 299 and 343 to be the first successful Utah pair has been hampered over the past few years by us having to treat one of them for lead poisoning during breeding season. Sadly, we have now found the adult 9-year-old female (Condor 343) dead in Zion National Park in Utah. This is a major step back from Utah's first breeding."

Official necropsy results are pending to determine cause of death, but this year's trapping results show a very high rate of lead poisoning in almost all of the Utah foraging birds.

Condor population
There are just 400 Californian condors alive today, of which around 175 are in captivity. The California condor has recovered from only 22 birds left in the world in 1982 to around 400 today. The original 22 birds were captured in an effort to breed and save the species. Condors bred and raised in captivity are now periodically released at sites in California, Mexico and at the Vermilion Cliffs in Arizona.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/utah-condor2013.html