Update: Lead, Trash, High Cost Killing Last California Condors
photo credit: Velo Steve
In August, we wrote about a California Audubon report that said lead poisoning from spent hunting ammunition is killing the last California condors — birds that, thanks to two decades of human intervention, were brought back from the brink of extinction. The report also noted that this costly recovery effort is unrealistic and unsustainable unless lead is banned from hunting ammunition.
Now the Los Angeles Times reports that: “A ban on hunting with lead ammunition within the California condor’s 2,385-square-mile range will be expanded to prohibit its use in the shooting of small nuisance animals [such as squirrels and rabbits].”
Good News for California Condors
The majestic birds with wingspans up to 9 1/2 feet are scavengers, like vultures, which means they ingest lead while eating the carcasses of hunted animals and gut piles.
The California Condor Preservation Act had already banned lead ammunition from hunting large games such as deer and antelope (presumably an easier sell to hunters because people don’t want to ingest lead from game they’ve hunted either). This will be the first time the act applies to small animals, which are more likely to be left behind, and thus more likely to be eaten by California condors.
Read the complete story at: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-condors4-2008dec04,0,1706424.story
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