Bald eagles dying

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  • eldirector

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    I don't know... How often do fish swallow lead weights?
    Weights, jigs, etc...? Often? Heck, for a jig, lead IS the part they try to swallow.

    Did a little googling for actual information, rather than "someone said":
    https://www.raptor.umn.edu/our-research/lead-poisoning

    Seems that the eagles can/do likely switch to carrion during the winter, and may be picking up lead from gut piles and carcasses left by hunters.
     

    DoggyDaddy

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    Weights, jigs, etc...? Often? Heck, for a jig, lead IS the part they try to swallow.

    Did a little googling for actual information, rather than "someone said":
    https://www.raptor.umn.edu/our-research/lead-poisoning

    Seems that the eagles can/do likely switch to carrion during the winter, and may be picking up lead from gut piles and carcasses left by hunters.

    Good point about the jigs. Hadn't thought about that. That article does seem to point to hunting as a primary source though.
     

    GodFearinGunTotin

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    Mitchell
    Seems like hyperbole to me. Never assume, when it comes to guns, articles like this are meant solely to protect the animals being talked about. It’s probably a ruse for amping up opposition to all things firearm related.
     

    two70

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    Is it time for this stupid BS again already? Seems like they they recycle some version of this story every few years. First it was the condors in California, then it was humans, now we've apparently moved on to eagles.
     

    VUPDblue

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    Serious question: if eagles are getting lead poisoning from eating carcasses with lead residue, why aren't avid hunters getting the same from eating all the animals they harvest? Would they not contain the same lead residue?
     

    DoggyDaddy

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    Serious question: if eagles are getting lead poisoning from eating carcasses with lead residue, why aren't avid hunters getting the same from eating all the animals they harvest? Would they not contain the same lead residue?

    As I understood it, it's more than just residue. It sounds like they're actually ingesting led fragments/shot/bullets left in the gut piles or wounded and not recovered animals. I know I remember biting down on a lead pellet more than once when eating squirrel or rabbit, but I didn't swallow them like an eagle or other carrion eating animal likely would.
     

    Thor

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    Could be anywhere
    DDT and now lead...while we have the largest Eagle population in a long while. If they want to find what's killing the birds they just need to look at the nearest wind farm.

    This is just more crap to control our lives. Flock MSN and their communist overlords.
     

    GodFearinGunTotin

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    Mitchell
    DDT and now lead...while we have the largest Eagle population in a long while. If they want to find what's killing the birds they just need to look at the nearest wind farm.

    This is just more crap to control our lives. Flock MSN and their communist overlords.

    They keep playing the same plays, over and over again. Dead children, starving grandmas, dead animals, struggling single mothers or some combination or permutation of those sob stories...over and over again.
     

    tv1217

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    I've probably accidentally ingested plenty of lead in my life and it hasn't killed me. Made me a little dumber maybe...

    Those eagles need to harden the **** up. You're representing AMERICA damn it!
     

    ghuns

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    They keep playing the same plays, over and over again. Dead children, starving grandmas, dead animals, struggling single mothers or some combination or permutation of those sob stories...over and over again.

    Maybe.

    But lead is toxic and there are suitable alternatives. Fisherman have the option to voluntarily use those alternatives now or be forced to use them later.:dunno:

    Research on loons from six New England states has shown that on the majority of lakes where dead adult breeding loons were found between 1987 and 2002, about 26% of these loons died from lead poisoning. Some lakes were identified as hot spots with lead causing over 50% of documented causes of death.


    In Michigan, another 15-year study examined 186 dead loons and revealed that lead poisoning — primarily from lead jigs — was the number one cause of death at 24% (44/186) of overall mortality. Limited research in Minnesota has also documented lead poisoning of loons. A study conducted by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency concluded that lead poisoning accounted for 12 percent of the dead adult loons with known causes of death.


    Between 1980 and 1996, the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota reported lead poisoning in 138 of 650 eagles they treated. Since 1996, 43 additional eagles were treated for lead poisoning including 22 last year. Most of the time, the source of the lead cannot be detected as the birds have cast the material out of their systems. Because lead shot was banned in waterfowl production areas in the early 1990s, bullet fragments in big game carcasses, lead shot lodged in upland game and lead fishing tackle are considered possible sources of lead poisoning of eagles.
     

    GodFearinGunTotin

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    Mitchell
    Maybe.

    But lead is toxic and there are suitable alternatives. Fisherman have the option to voluntarily use those alternatives now or be forced to use them later.:dunno:

    Ehhh...maybe. There are persuasive arguments and statistics and studies to convince us we should abandon “fossil” fuels in favor of “sustainable” fuels too. Same was true for fixing the ozone hole, the coming ice age, then the coming global warming, running out of crude oil in x years, etc. I have no idea if lead shot and whatnot in the environment is the danger the people tabulating these death tolls would have us believe. Maybe they are. Maybe they’re not. But having been one of those that have been gullible to past hysterias that never came true—color me skeptical.
     

    ghuns

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    ...But having been one of those that have been gullible to past hysterias that never came true—color me skeptical.

    Makes sense to be skeptical. I too am skeptical as to how much it really hurts. And I question any numbers put forth to quantify how much it really hurts, based on the political leanings of who generated the numbers.:rolleyes:

    But lead is unquestionably toxic. Spreading it around in the environment willy nilly just doesn't seem like a great idea.
     

    bwframe

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    I was casting boolits in a respirator and a friend of mine reminded me that we all grew up biting sinkers onto the fishing line... :dunno:
     

    ghuns

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    I was casting boolits in a respirator and a friend of mine reminded me that we all grew up biting sinkers onto the fishing line... :dunno:

    You are smart. Your friend is dumb.;)

    Biting the occasional sinker VS the lead fumes from casting are VERY different things.

    A good friend of mine used to be the manager of a local gun shop that had an indoor range. He was having some health problems that had his docs puzzled. One finally asked him what he did for a living. When he told him about the indoor range, the doc said, Oh. You have lead poisoning. A blood test confirmed this. His levels were ridiculous. Like little kid eating paint chips ridiculous.

    This is a nice range. With what would appeared to have been adequate ventilation. It probably is adequate for customers who come and go. But for employees who were exposed all day, every day, not so much.
     
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