Fw: Stop poisoning of Condors with Lead

[Guest guest]

Ask Governor Schwarzenegger to Get the Lead Out for CondorsCenter for

Biological Diversity

 

Ask Governor Schwarzenegger to Get the Lead Out for Condors

 

Last week the Center and a coalition of conservation, health and Native

American organizations filed suit against the California Fish and Game

Commission and Department of Fish and Game for continuing to allow hunting

with toxic lead ammunition that is poisoning rare California Condors even

though safe, reliable bullets and shot are readily available.

 

The Commission has failed to change hunting regulations to protect condors

despite our petition for urgent action filed two years ago. Since then,

three condors in California have required invasive chelation therapy to

" de-lead " their blood and save their lives after feeding on lead-tainted

carcasses. Last June four more condors at Pinnacles National Monument had

significant levels of lead poisoning after feeding on lead-contaminated

carcasses of ground squirrels. Five new studies published this year provide

overwhelming evidence that the lead poisoning found in condors comes from

ammunition fragments in carcasses and gut piles left behind by hunters in

condor range.

 

Lead poisoning is the leading cause of death for condors reintroduced to the

wild, with at least 10-15 condor deaths in California and Arizona since 1992

known or suspected to be due to lead poisoning. Experts have warned for

years against the toxic lead ammunition that is poisoning rare California

Condors. Lead poisoning from ammunition presents the single greatest

obstacle to the recovery of the species.

 

The Commission will review the state game hunting regulations in February,

and now is the time for the state of California to protect one of the

world's most endangered species and an icon of California's natural

heritage - the condor is even featured on our state quarter! Please help us

build the momentum of our Get The Lead Out campaign and send a strong

message to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his Fish and Game Commission

to end, finally, the use of toxic lead ammunition in the range of the

critically endangered California Condor.

 

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):

California Fish and Game Commission

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

 

SEND A LETTER ONLINE:

http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/lead_out/

 

Below is the sample letter:

Get the Lead Out for California Condors

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

It is time for California to Get the Lead Out to prevent further poisonings

of imperiled California Condors. Immediate action is needed to protect one

of the world's most endangered species and an icon of California's natural

heritage, featured on our state quarter. Please direct your Fish and Game

Commission to follow the advice of condor experts, toxicologists, and

conservation, health and Native American organizations urging an end to the

use of toxic lead hunting ammunition. We request that the Commission revise

the state game hunting regulations to immediately require the use of

non-lead ammunition for all game hunting in the California Condor range.

 

Lead poisoning is the leading cause of death for condors reintroduced to the

wild, with at least 10-15 condor deaths in California and Arizona since 1992

known or strongly suspected to be due to lead poisoning. Despite

increasingly successful efforts to bring condors back from the brink of

extinction, for years experts have warned that toxic lead ammunition is

poisoning rare California Condors and presents the single greatest obstacle

to the recovery of the species. Both the California Department of Fish and

Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service California Condor Recovery Team

have reached the same conclusion.

 

Five new studies published this year provide overwhelming evidence that the

lead poisoning found in condors comes from ammunition fragments in carcasses

and gut piles left behind by hunters in the condor range.

 

The Commission has failed to change hunting regulations to protect condors

despite an urgent petition for action filed two years ago, even though safe,

reliable non-lead bullets and shot are readily available. Since then, three

condors in California have required invasive chelation therapy to " de-lead "

their blood and save their lives after feeding on lead-tainted carcasses.

Last June a dozen more condors at Pinnacles National Monument fed on

lead-contaminated carcasses of ground squirrels, and four of these condors

had significant levels of lead poisoning.

 

Alternatives to lead ammunition, which perform as well as or better than

lead bullets for many hunting activities, are already widely available.

All-copper bullets are available in a variety of calibers as are bullets

whose lead cores are entirely encased in steel.

 

Eliminating lead ammunition is good public policy - not only to protect our

most endangered wildlife, but also for human health. Recent studies show

that numerous microscopic bullet fragments are widespread throughout

carcasses of wild game shot with lead ammunition, raising health concerns

for anyone eating the meat.

 

The Commission will review the state game hunting regulations in February.

Please direct the Commission to Get the Lead Out! It is time to finally end

the use of toxic lead ammunition in the range of the critically endangered

California Condor.

Sincerely,

 

[your name]

 

 

 

We encourage you to pass on this alert to friends, list serves and other

action alert services. Anyone can participate at:

http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/lead_out

 

Take Action!

Instructions:

Click here to take action on this issue

http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/lead_out

 

What's At Stake:

 

The California Condor is one of the world's most endangered species. Only

138 birds currently fly free in the wild, with 61 of those in California.

Lead poisoning from ingesting lead ammunition found in carcasses is a severe

threat to California Condors and also kills Bald and Golden Eagles. In 2005

the Center launched a " Get the Lead Out " campaign to eliminate lead bullets

from California Condor habitat and save this magnificent bird.

Five scientific studies published this year add to the overwhelming body of

evidence showing that lead ammunition from game hunting is poisoning

condors. In August 2005, a group of condor recovery experts and

toxicologists published a research paper in Environmental Science and

Technology titled " Ammunition is the Principal Source of Lead Accumulated by

California Condors Re-Introduced to the Wild. " The researchers found that

blood lead levels of condors in the wild were 10-fold higher than those in

captive-raised condors. They demonstrated that the lead isotope signature

of commonly used ammunition sold in condor range exactly matches the isotope

of the lead found in poisoned condors.

In a recent Peregrine Fund study, x-rays of deer killed by hunters showed

that bullets had exploded into dozens of tiny pieces, with half the

carcasses carrying at least 100 bullet fragments. These results raise human

health concerns for those eating wild game shot with lead ammunition. The

study also examined gut piles left behind by hunters and found that 90

percent contained lead fragments - indicating that the condor food supply is

almost completely contaminated with toxic lead.

These results demand immediate state regulations requiring non-lead

ammunition for hunting in the condor range. Otherwise the success of the

$40 million California Condor recovery program is in great jeopardy.

Condors inadvertently ingest lead from spent ammunition in animal carcasses

and gut piles left by hunters. A 2003 study commissioned by the California

Department of Fish and Game estimated that more than 30,000

lead-contaminated carcasses are left in condor range annually. The lead

exposure problem has been known since the early 1980s, and with only 138

condors now in the wild and the potential for mass poisonings, condor

experts and toxicologists have been warning for several years that failure

to address the problem could prevent the condor reintroduction program's

success.

The Center petitioned the California Fish and Game Commission to phase out

all use of lead bullets and shot in condor habitat, which was unreasonably

and summarily rejected by the Commission in 2005. Intensive lobbying by the

National Rifle Association and other hunting groups killed attempts in 2005

and 2006 to introduce bills in the California State Legislature that would

require the use of non-lead ammunition for hunting in the condor range.

These groups have worked to block required use of non-lead ammunition even

though bullets made from copper and other metals - with performance equal or

superior to that of lead bullets - are widely available for hunting big

game.

More information about condors and the lead poisoning threat can be found at

www.savethecondors.org.

 

 

http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/lead_out