Birdsofprey populations across Europe suppressed by lead poisoning from gun ammunition: study Cambridge_Uni
When birds like eagles and Red Kites scavenge carcasses or eat injured animals with fragments of toxic lead from gun ammunition embedded in their bodies they can become poisoned, suffering slow and painful deaths. Smaller doses have been shown to alter behavior and physiology.in the livers of over 3,000 raptors found dead in more than a dozen countries to calculate the extent to which poisoning by lead ammunition has affected Europe's raptor populations.
For example, the study suggests that Europe's White-tailed Eagle population is 14% smaller than it would have been without more than a century of exposure to lethal levels of lead in some of its food. They estimate that the overall European population of ten raptor species is at least 6% smaller than it should be, solely as a result of poisoning from lead ammunition.Cambridge researchers worked with the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research and the findings are published today in the journalThe scientists say that a range of alternatives to lead shotgun cartridges and rifle bullets are widely available to hunters and work well.
"The kinds of reductions in raptor populations suggested by our study would be considered worthy of strong action, including legislation, if caused by habitat destruction or deliberate poisoning." As well as vultures, which rely on scavenging, many other raptors also scavenge when the opportunity arises, including eagles, buzzards and kites. Many dead pheasants at UK roadsides carryNorthern goshawk, Accipiter gentilis, adult perched on fallen tree, Highlands, Scotland, November. Credit: Louise Greenhorn/RSPB
"We can now see just how substantial population impacts can be for some of our most charismatic and vulnerable species—species that are protected by EU Regulation and the UK Wildlife & Countryside Act."
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