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hunting
Lead Ammo Harms Wildlife and Undermines the Mission of Our National Parks
Banning lead from our national parks would be one of the single biggest conservation advances in a generation.
Aug 27, 2024
Earlier this month, a California condor, the first of its kind to hatch and take flight in Zion National Park, died of lead poisoning just shy of its fifth birthday. Shockingly, one of this condor’s siblings was earlier found to have the highest recorded lead value ever documented in a live bird over the entire 28-year history of the condor release program.
Lead poisoning remains the leading cause of diagnosed death among California condors. About 90% of condors trapped and tested during this past year had blood lead levels indicating lead exposure. As scavengers, condors ingest lead shot from carcasses of animals killed with lead-based ammunition.
But condors are not the only victims. Lead is a leading threat to all national park birdlife, especially bald eagles, hawks, and other raptors. Lead fragments from spent shells contaminate the entire wildlife food chain.
It’s time for decisive action to protect the wildlife that our national parks were created to preserve.
While most parks by law do not permit hunting, a significant number do. Of the 429 national parks, 76 allow various types of hunting—recreational, subsistence, or tribal hunting. These parks (the largest of which are in Alaska) cover more than 60% of land within the entire national park system. In addition, more than 85% of parks with fish (213 in all) are open for fishing with lead tackle.
The impact is devastating. More than 130 park wildlife species are exposed to or killed by ingesting lead or prey contaminated with lead.
These wildlife deaths are preventable. Since November of 2022, Interior Secretary Deborah Haaland, the cabinet officer overseeing the National Park Service, has had a proposed rule sitting on her desk that would end the use of lead-based ammunition and fishing tackle in all park units. Despite this, no action has been taken on this rule-making petition.
In contrast to the Park Service’s total inaction, its sister agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, (FWS) has declared that “lead ammunition and tackle have negative impacts on both wildlife and human health.” The FWS has taken the first tentative steps to reduce or eliminate the use of lead ammunition by:
- Imposing partial bans on lead ammunition in certain refuges where new hunting opportunities have opened up;
- Phasing out of lead ammunition on three refuges newly opened to hunting; and
- Developing a pilot program to reimburse hunters for using lead-free ammunition.
Though these steps do not constitute a complete ban on lead ammunition, they represent a significant step forward, especially considering that nearly 80% of wildlife refuges and other management districts offer hunting and fishing access.
Unfortunately, wildlife protection does not appear to be a high priority for National Park Service Director Chuck Sams and his leadership team. Earlier this year, he approved questionable hunting practices, such as killing bear cubs and wolf pups in their dens, using dogs and artificial lights to hunt black bears, and shooting swimming caribou from motorboats across more than 22 million acres of Park Service administered lands in Alaska.
These are not the actions of a conservation-focused agency.
Banning lead from our national parks would be one of the single biggest conservation advances in a generation. Such a move would place the Park Service alongside 26 states and countries that have already banned lead ammunition.
The ecological stakes are profound. It’s time for decisive action to protect the wildlife that our national parks were created to preserve.
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'Shameful and Heartbreaking': Largest Wolf Cull in Modern History Underway in Sweden
"It's disastrous for the entire ecosystem," warned one activist. "The existence of wolves contributes to a richer animal and plant life. Human survival depends on healthy ecosystems."
Jan 02, 2023
Wildlife defenders in Sweden and beyond decried the start on Monday of what's being called the largest wolf cull in modern times, arguing that killing nearly a fifth of the country's critically endangered lupine population could have grave consequences for biodiversity.
Swedish public broadcaster SVTreports hunters in the five Swedish counties with the most wolves—Gävleborg, Dalarna, Västmanland, Örebro, and Värmland—will be allowed to kill a total of 75 wolves out of a national population of 460 animals.
"The existence of wolves contributes to a richer animal and plant life. Human survival depends on healthy ecosystems."
Last winter, Sweden authorized the killing of 27 wolves, while hunters in neighboring Norway had permission to kill 51 wolves—about 60% of the lupine population—and Finland approved the culling of 27 wolves.
While Gunnar Glöersen, the predator manager at the Swedish Hunters' Association, says "hunting is absolutely necessary to slow the proliferation of wolves," Daniel Ekblom of Sweden's Nature Conservation Society called the cull "tragic."
"It could have consequences for a long time to come," Ekblom told SVT.
Other opponents of the cull noted Sweden's relatively low wolf population. Italy, for example, is only about half as large as Sweden but has around 3,000 wolves, which are strictly protected by law.
"Wolves as top predators in the food chain are a prerequisite for biodiversity," Marie Stegard, president of the anti-hunting group Jaktkritikerna, told The Guardian, warning that killing so much of "the population through hunting has negative consequences for animals and nature."
"It's disastrous for the entire ecosystem," she said. "The existence of wolves contributes to a richer animal and plant life. Human survival depends on healthy ecosystems."
\u201cWithout proper consultation of scientific experts, the Swedish government allows hunting & killing of a wolves species that is down to only 475 wolves. Shameful and heartbreaking, and "disastrous for species", as experts warn. #Sweden #wolves #extinction\n https://t.co/FEgF7GhKuW\u201d— Andreas Steinwachs (@Andreas Steinwachs) 1672662566
Stegard added:
It is obvious that there is strong political pressure for licensed hunting for wolves, and also lynx and bear.
There is a large majority of Swedes who like wolves, even where they live. In our opinion, the reason for these hunts is simply that there is a demand for shooting wolves among hunters. The hunters' organizations have enormous power in Sweden. It is a fact that the Swedish parliament has a hunters' club open to members of all parties, with a shooting gallery underneath the parliament. This sounds like a joke but it's absolutely true.
The Swedish Parliament is also lobbying the European Union to remove wolves and bears from its list of species in need of protection.
Hanna Dittrich-Söderman, who leads the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency's wolf program, says the lupine predators hold a special place in national folklore, evoking primal fears and irrational hatred.
"There is no other animal that is so easy to both demonize and glorify as the wolf—an imagined fear or hatred has been attached to it," Dittrich-Söderman toldThe Local. "We have almost made it a symbol of our fearful nature as a whole, it has almost mythical qualities."
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Colorado Town Poised to be First to Issue Drone Hunting License
'They fly in town, they get shot down'
Jul 18, 2013
The small ranching hamlet of Deer Trail, Colorado is considering becoming the first US town to issue drone hunting licenses.
The ordinance, drafted by Deer Trail resident Phillip Steel, proposes a bounty of $100 to any licensed "shooter" who presents the "identifiable parts of an unmanned aerial vehicle whose markings and configuration are consistent with those used on any similar craft known to be owned or operated by the United States federal government."
"This is a very symbolic ordinance," Steel told local 7NEWS. "Basically, I do not believe in the idea of a surveillance society, and I believe we are heading that way."
Steel told Reuters that, though he had not seen any drones, "some local ranchers" outside the town limits had. Deer Trail, the site of the world's first rodeo, is situated approximately 55 miles east of Denver.
The ordinance further specifies that hunters can legally shoot down a drone flying under 1,000 feet with weapons limited to "any shotgun, 12 gauge or smaller, having a barrel length of 18 inches or greater."
Further, reports Reuters, Deer Trail will also be required to establish a drone "recognition program" for hunters to properly identify the targeted aircraft.
The Deer Trail board of trustees, a seven-member panel representing the town's roughly 600 residents, will vote on the ordinance on August 6. If passed, they will charge $25 for drone hunting licenses, valid for one year.
"We do not want drones in town," said Steel. "They fly in town, they get shot down."
Colorado's 7NEWS had this report on the ordinance:
Deer Trail eyes drone hunting bounties7/16/2013 - 10pm - The town of Deer Trail considers offering drone hunting licenses and bounties for unmanned aerial vehicles.
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