GET THE LEAD OUT

Lead is an extremely toxic element that we’ve sensibly removed from most of our environment, including water pipes, gasoline, paint, and cooking utensils. But it’s still entering the food chain through widespread use of lead hunting ammunition and fishing tackle, poisoning species like the endangered California condor and even threatening human health. That’s why the Center started a campaign to “Get the Lead Out,” devoted to replacing lead ammunition with safer alternatives to protect condors and other living things.

The California condor, one of the world’s most endangered species, was so near extinction in the mid-1980s that the last nine wild birds were captured for an expensive captive-breeding program. By the mid-1990s, the captive population was healthy enough to begin the bird’s reintroduction to the wild, and condor recovery has come a long way since. But this majestic species is far from safe: Every year, condors are liberated only to find themselves dining on lead.

Condors, eagles, and other wildlife are poisoned — often fatally — when they scavenge on remains of game animals shot with lead ammunition. Scientific studies provide overwhelming evidence that lead poisoning in condors comes from ammunition fragments in carcasses and gut piles hunters leave behind in the condor range. Since 1992, at least 24 reintroduced condors in California and Arizona are known or suspected to have died from lead poisoning, and many more must periodically receive emergency, life-saving treatment. Experts agree that as long as lead ammunition contaminates the condor’s food, its recovery is unlikely.

The Center is committed to protecting condors throughout their range from lead to ensure the revival of this noble species.

CALIFORNIA

In December 2004, the Center led a coalition in petitioning the California Fish and Game Commission to change California hunting regulations to require the use of non-lead ammunition in condor habitat. In November 2006, after the Commission had failed to act, we filed a lawsuit to force a response to our petition. Less than a year later, California legislators and Governor Schwarzenegger approved the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act, an historic bill requiring non-lead ammunition to be used for all big-game hunting within central and southern California’s condor range. The California Fish and Game Commission is now considering hunting-law changes that would benefit condors even more. Meanwhile, we’re pushing for statewide regulations to address lead exposure from hunting besides that of big game, such as bird hunting and depredation hunting, to safeguard other wildlife like bald and golden eagles — and human health.

ARIZONA

The Center is promoting similar condor protections in Arizona, where condor lead poisonings are perhaps most severe. There, at least 12 reintroduced condors have died of lead poisoning and almost 100 have required emergency treatment for lead poisoning since 1992. In 2006, an appalling 95 percent of all Arizona condors had lead exposure and 70 percent had to be chelated. To remedy this, in July 2007 the Center and a coalition of conservation groups requested that the Arizona Game and Fish Commission take immediate action to prevent further condor lead poisonings by requiring Arizona hunters to use non-lead ammunition.

NATIONWIDE

In 2008 the Center is initiating a national Get the Lead Out campaign to address all lead poisoning of American wildlife, both from lead ammunition and from lead fishing tackle and sinkers. Numerous U.S. bird species are at risk from lead entering the food chain, and there have been documented poisonings of eagles, cranes, ravens, waterfowl, and raptors that feed on ducks and upland game birds such as hawks, owls, and vultures.