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LEAD BIG GAME AMMO BAN COMING? -- jim matthews outdoor column -- 06dec06
Lawsuit may force Fish and Game Commission to mandate use of non-lead big game ammunition
By JIM MATTHEWS Outdoor News Service
Big game hunters in condor country, and perhaps statewide, will likely be forced to use non-lead hunting ammunition beginning as early as this coming fall. A lawsuit was filed last week by a coalition of conservation groups, including hunters, seeking to force the California Fish and Game Commission to stop hunters from using lead hunting ammunition that is poisoning critically endangered California condors.
The lawsuit and a growing body of scientific data has forced the Commission's hand, and new regulations will probably be adopted in February for the 2007 big game hunting seasons that will help protect condors from lead poisoning.
Condors pick up lead when they feed on the remains of hunter-shot game left in the field, mostly in gut piles from deer. Condors occasionally get enough lead in this way to cause their death, and scientists suggest that many of the 46 condors that have died in California since 1992 were killed from lead poisoning. The lawsuit was filed by the Center for Biological Diversity (CDB), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and a coalition of Native Americans, hunters, and doctors concerned about human health. It seeks injunctive relief under the Endangered Species Act.
"We submitted a petition to the Fish and Game Commission for emergency action over two years ago," said Jeff Miller with the CDB in San Francisco. "One of the reasons given for the inaction by the Commission was the circumstantial evidence [for condors being poisoned by lead bullets or bullet residue], but there have been even more studies that have come out in the past year, and it's a pretty compelling case."
Even the Commission and Department of Fish and Game biologists now agree with the latest science and suggest some action must be taken to protect condors from lead poisoning, according to Sonke Mastrup, deputy director of the DFG in Sacramento.
"It's time to have this discussion," said Mastrup. "I'd like to believe that sportsmen, the original and best conservationists, will see this problem and solve it."
Mastrup said the DFG is presenting the Commission a proposal this week to change the mammal hunting regulations, giving Commission members a range of ways to deal with the lead issue. He said there would basically be three options on the table -- a no change option that would keep the status quo, an option that would require non-lead big game hunting ammunition in condor range, and an option that would require big game hunters throughout the state to use non-lead ammunition.
"If the commission beats us to the punch and revises the regulations in February, that would be great," said Miller. "We're not asking for the impossible. We're looking for common sense approaches to solve the problem and still allow hunting. This isn't about stopping hunting. If non-lead ammunition is mandated, we want to find ways to implement this so cost isn't a burden to hunters."
Most big game hunting ammunition has bullets that are made of a lead core with a thin copper jacket. Non-lead bullets are already available and have a reputation as being as effective -- if not more effective -- for hunting, but the cost of the solid copper bullets are higher than for standard lead bullets, increasing the price of the ammunition. In Arizona, where there is a voluntary program to eliminate lead ammunition in condor range there, hunters were given two boxes of non-lead ammunition to use for big game hunting.
There is growing evidence that condors also occasionally eat varmints shot by hunters and left in the field. Varmints are mostly shot with rimfire ammunition or high velocity centerfire rounds. Unfortunately, there are not alternatives currently on the market for non-lead rimfire or varmint bullets used in this ammunition, and the costs of alternatives in these two areas are likely to be much higher because the number of rounds fired is much greater.
The conservation groups bringing the lawsuit recognize that lead bullet fragments in varmints could be a problem for condors, but their major concern right now is with big game ammunition. Miller said that big game ammunition was likely the biggest problem and the easiest fix. "With the ammunition thats not so easy, we're willing to be flexible on that," said Miller. He said he believed manufacturers would rush to make suitable alternatives, even for varmint hunting.
The California condor is one of the most endangered animals in the world. They were so close to extinction in 1982, and the last 22 wild birds were rounded up as part of a captive-breeding program. As the captive flock grew, the government began releasing condors back into the wild in 1992. Of the 127 birds released in California, 46 of those have died, with many of those deaths thought to be linked to lead poisoning. Between all released birds and those in captivity, the condor population is now over 300 birds. The cost of the recovery program has been over $40 million.
Condors are exposed to lead when they encounter carcasses of shot and lost game or the remains of animals cleaned by hunters in the field. Microscopic lead particles are widespread throughout game shot with lead ammunition, with fragments radiating away from the wound channel. Condors also can mistake bullet fragments for the calcium-rich bone they require. The birds absorb the toxic metal more quickly than other raptors and expel it less efficiently. Most condors in the wild show low levels of lead in their systems, and 80 birds currently in the wild have been treated for severe lead poisoning and re-released. Without treatment, many of those birds would also have perished.
Conservationists see the remains of game left in the field by hunters as an important food source for condors, and they would rather have hunters use non-lead ammunition rather than bury or hide the remains from the birds.
"The last thing I want is for people to make this into something it's not. It's not about anti-hunting sentiment. It's not about anyone being anti-gun. This is a conservation issue," said Mastrup.
Lawsuit may force Fish and Game Commission to mandate use of non-lead big game ammunition
By JIM MATTHEWS Outdoor News Service
Big game hunters in condor country, and perhaps statewide, will likely be forced to use non-lead hunting ammunition beginning as early as this coming fall. A lawsuit was filed last week by a coalition of conservation groups, including hunters, seeking to force the California Fish and Game Commission to stop hunters from using lead hunting ammunition that is poisoning critically endangered California condors.
The lawsuit and a growing body of scientific data has forced the Commission's hand, and new regulations will probably be adopted in February for the 2007 big game hunting seasons that will help protect condors from lead poisoning.
Condors pick up lead when they feed on the remains of hunter-shot game left in the field, mostly in gut piles from deer. Condors occasionally get enough lead in this way to cause their death, and scientists suggest that many of the 46 condors that have died in California since 1992 were killed from lead poisoning. The lawsuit was filed by the Center for Biological Diversity (CDB), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and a coalition of Native Americans, hunters, and doctors concerned about human health. It seeks injunctive relief under the Endangered Species Act.
"We submitted a petition to the Fish and Game Commission for emergency action over two years ago," said Jeff Miller with the CDB in San Francisco. "One of the reasons given for the inaction by the Commission was the circumstantial evidence [for condors being poisoned by lead bullets or bullet residue], but there have been even more studies that have come out in the past year, and it's a pretty compelling case."
Even the Commission and Department of Fish and Game biologists now agree with the latest science and suggest some action must be taken to protect condors from lead poisoning, according to Sonke Mastrup, deputy director of the DFG in Sacramento.
"It's time to have this discussion," said Mastrup. "I'd like to believe that sportsmen, the original and best conservationists, will see this problem and solve it."
Mastrup said the DFG is presenting the Commission a proposal this week to change the mammal hunting regulations, giving Commission members a range of ways to deal with the lead issue. He said there would basically be three options on the table -- a no change option that would keep the status quo, an option that would require non-lead big game hunting ammunition in condor range, and an option that would require big game hunters throughout the state to use non-lead ammunition.
"If the commission beats us to the punch and revises the regulations in February, that would be great," said Miller. "We're not asking for the impossible. We're looking for common sense approaches to solve the problem and still allow hunting. This isn't about stopping hunting. If non-lead ammunition is mandated, we want to find ways to implement this so cost isn't a burden to hunters."
Most big game hunting ammunition has bullets that are made of a lead core with a thin copper jacket. Non-lead bullets are already available and have a reputation as being as effective -- if not more effective -- for hunting, but the cost of the solid copper bullets are higher than for standard lead bullets, increasing the price of the ammunition. In Arizona, where there is a voluntary program to eliminate lead ammunition in condor range there, hunters were given two boxes of non-lead ammunition to use for big game hunting.
There is growing evidence that condors also occasionally eat varmints shot by hunters and left in the field. Varmints are mostly shot with rimfire ammunition or high velocity centerfire rounds. Unfortunately, there are not alternatives currently on the market for non-lead rimfire or varmint bullets used in this ammunition, and the costs of alternatives in these two areas are likely to be much higher because the number of rounds fired is much greater.
The conservation groups bringing the lawsuit recognize that lead bullet fragments in varmints could be a problem for condors, but their major concern right now is with big game ammunition. Miller said that big game ammunition was likely the biggest problem and the easiest fix. "With the ammunition thats not so easy, we're willing to be flexible on that," said Miller. He said he believed manufacturers would rush to make suitable alternatives, even for varmint hunting.
The California condor is one of the most endangered animals in the world. They were so close to extinction in 1982, and the last 22 wild birds were rounded up as part of a captive-breeding program. As the captive flock grew, the government began releasing condors back into the wild in 1992. Of the 127 birds released in California, 46 of those have died, with many of those deaths thought to be linked to lead poisoning. Between all released birds and those in captivity, the condor population is now over 300 birds. The cost of the recovery program has been over $40 million.
Condors are exposed to lead when they encounter carcasses of shot and lost game or the remains of animals cleaned by hunters in the field. Microscopic lead particles are widespread throughout game shot with lead ammunition, with fragments radiating away from the wound channel. Condors also can mistake bullet fragments for the calcium-rich bone they require. The birds absorb the toxic metal more quickly than other raptors and expel it less efficiently. Most condors in the wild show low levels of lead in their systems, and 80 birds currently in the wild have been treated for severe lead poisoning and re-released. Without treatment, many of those birds would also have perished.
Conservationists see the remains of game left in the field by hunters as an important food source for condors, and they would rather have hunters use non-lead ammunition rather than bury or hide the remains from the birds.
"The last thing I want is for people to make this into something it's not. It's not about anti-hunting sentiment. It's not about anyone being anti-gun. This is a conservation issue," said Mastrup.
