Despite a lead ammo ban in California, Condors are still dying. Now we know why. Pigs!
California Condors Are Still Dying — Despite a Lead Ammo Ban
[Abstracted from the full article above.]
In the last century, California Condor populations crashed. Condors were listed as endangered in 1967, and in 1982, only 23 condors survived worldwide. A substantial conservation campaign in California followed, spanning several decades, and there now are more than 600 alive. But they aren’t doing as well as scientists expected, even after the state banned hunters from using lead bullets, fragments of which the birds swallow when they eat animal carcasses left behind.
The answer as to why Condors are still dying of lead poisoning, the scientists believe, is in part due to condors changing their behavior to act more like wild birds. The birds are foraging further afield from sites where conservationists leave (lead-free) food and finding animals to eat that are sometimes shot with lead. More lead-laced animal carcasses may be available, due to the expansion of feral pigs causing a nuisance in Central California.
Condor image ©2016 Mark Wagner
“Condors are very long-lived, so very small changes in their survival rate can make big differences on whether or not they will go extinct or not go extinct,” said Myra Finkelstein, an environmental toxicologist at UC Santa Cruz and senior author on the paper. “The goal is for us to stop releasing captive-bred birds, and currently right now, we still have to. The population is declining unless we release captive-bred birds.”
Finkelstein published research in 2012 that showed the lead poisoning from ammunition was preventing the condor’s recovery. The findings built support for California to pass a lead bullet ban for hunting wildlife in 2013, which fully phased into effect in 2019.
Combining data from deer hunts, pig hunts and elsewhere, Finkelstein said they found, “lo and behold, what explained the problem in central California was an increase in pigs.”
Feral pigs have become a nuisance, with most living on private land. They damage crops and vineyards and are a health hazard; they carry viruses, bacteria and parasites that can affect humans, pets, and livestock. Pig hunting tripled after 2008, and doubled again after 2019. Sometimes they’re killed without a tag, which is like a permission slip from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to kill an animal. It’s impossible to know how often.
“California condors are the tip of a very large and worrisome iceberg,” said Mike Pokras, who ran the wildlife program at Tufts University near Boston for 35 years. He’s advocating for a bill in Maryland aimed at getting hunters to use non-lead bullets when harvesting animals that enter the human food chain, like deer. The goal is to keep both humans and scavenger animals healthier.
Ultimately, though, he sees one solution. “We need to get all this lead stuff off the market. The human risks aren’t just from eating animals that have been shot with lead, but simply handling the metallic lead,” he said. “It doesn’t matter where the lead comes from,” Pokras said. “It’s really bad for people. Even if [gun owners are] target shooting, we don’t want them using lead.”
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