After three years of legal pressure, the California Senate passed the Ridley-Tree 
Preservation Act on September 5, requiring hunters to use non-lead ammunition for hunting big game and coyotes within the California condor range. Passage of the legislation is a victory for the condor as in recent months at least 17 of the endangered birds have suffered from lead poisoning by feeding on carcasses riddled with lead shot. In 2004, the Center for Biological Diversity and allies petitioned California Fish and Game Commission to end the use of lead ammunition statewide; in 2006, the Center filed a suit against the state for continuing to allow such condor-threatening hunting practices.
Source: Center for biological diversity
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This is an idiotic move that will in no way help the Condor. The elevated levels of lead in the mentioned Condors were not the result of lead hunting ammunition. The type of lead found in the blood of the affected Condors is more akin to the lead found in old paint than hunting lead. This new law is simply a thinly-veiled attempt to end legal hunting in California. The only winner in this situation is those companies that sell lead-free hunting ammunition at nearly double the cost.
ReplyDeleteThe type of lead found in the blood of the affected Condors is more akin to the lead found in old paint than hunting lead.
ReplyDeletePhil, maybe you can cite your source and we can take it up with the center for biological diversity. I don't want to get carried away by false news from these organizations.
The Center for biological diversity furnished me with some reports and facts.
ReplyDeleteYou can find more information and the scientific reports proving the lead ammunition link to condor poisonings at http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/get_the_lead_out/index.html - click on "Detritus" at the bottom of the page for the scientific reports and a fact sheet on lead and condors.
We, the public, have to go where the facts are.