"It is important to remember that the direct actions of humans play an integral role in the life cycles and lives of wildlife, eco systems, and biodiversity," BC Wildlife Park said. There are approximately 30,000 bald eagles in Alaska.īoth the Alaska Raptor Center and the BC Wildlife Park urged the use of alternative metals instead of lead as they described the recent deaths of the eagles in their care. The FWs estimated there were around 316,700 of the birds in the lower 48 states. However conservation efforts have seen their numbers rebound dramatically. by the mid 1960s amid widespread use of harmful pesticides like DDT. The animals were at risk of extinction throughout much of their range in the U.S. "It instead affects the red blood cells which can ultimately lead to kidney impairment, liver dysfunction, and neurological damage over the course of days, weeks, or months," it said in a Facebook post.īald eagles are only found in North America. Tragically, last week, an eagle being treated here at the Alaska Raptor Center passed away from lead poisoning."īC Wildlife Park said that death from lead poisoning is slow. In some of our patients the amount of lead in the blood is so high that medication will not help and they pass away. "We can attempt to treat cases of lead poisoning, but it requires an intense amount of work. "How much lead is too much? It takes a piece of lead that is only the size of a grain of rice to fatally poison a bald eagle. "Once eaten, the lead leaches into the bird's bloodstream and devastates the nervous and gastrointestinal system," the Alaska Raptor Center said in a Facebook post.
The lead can then be eaten unwittingly by scavengers like bald or golden eagles. Lead bullets can fragment into hundreds of pieces on impact, meaning it is easily dispersed in the bodies of targeted animals. but still permitted when hunting other game.
Lead ammunition is banned for the hunting of waterfowl in the U.S. The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) said that while lead poisoning can occur naturally, scientific evidence has pointed to lead ammunition as the leading cause of lead poisoning in scavenging birds like eagles and vultures in the United States. Lead poisoning presents a direct risk to birds of prey in North America such as bald and golden eagles, which sometimes scavenge for food.
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