Lead is Poison Coalition

We have another Bald Eagle with lead poisoning 😢. However, the bigger issue is, he has the worst feather damage we have seen on any bird. Pretty much every feather is broken and this bird will be in care well over a year. If you would like to help us pay for chelation therapy or to help feed this eagle for the next 1+ years ... please donate and share.

We are sad to announce the death of California Condor 1K from lead poisoning.

1K was the first California Condor to fledge from Zion National Park in 2019 and his studbook number of 1000 signified a remarkable benchmark for the recovery effort, which began with only 22 condors in 1982.

His death from lead poisoning is a tragedy all too common for California Condors range wide. Lead poisoning remains the number one cause of diagnosed fatalities, with just under 50% of diagnosed deaths attributed to lead poisoning since releases began in California in 1992.

Read more about 1K's history, his death, and what The Peregrine Fund and partners are doing to address lead poisoning at bit.ly/CACO1K.

Condor 1K after receiving his "1K" wing tag 📷 Alan Clampitt

We are deeply saddened to share that Fuzzy, the red-tailed hawk that was shot and suffered from severe acute lead poisoning, lost his battle over the weekend. There are no words to describe the amount of sadness and anger we feel from this senseless act. As we mentioned previously, most cases of lead poisoning in birds are due to ingesting lead from sources such as fishing sinkers, split shot, or lead pellets from ammunition. Fuzzy's case was particularly uncommon; necropsy showed one of the pellets had lodged in his wing joint fluid, causing systemic poisoning. Despite having a very high lead level and being too weak for surgery, we attempted chelation therapy, but he was simply too sick to recover. We are heartbroken that this sweet old male red tail’s life was cut short in such an undeserved and tragic way. Fly free, Fuzzy. You will be missed. A heartfelt thank you to the finders, Token Creek Veterinary Clinic and Hoey Apothecary, for their caring and assistance.

Fishing tackle company pledges to go lead-free within three years to help save loons Lindy Tackle Company has launched a new lead-free jig designed by Minnesota Fishing Hall of Famer Jeff Zernov. It's entire product line will follow by 2027.

Please help us save a life! Our beloved eagle, who is recovering from lead poisoning, has finally regained his appetite and prefers trout. We are in critical need of fish, especially trout, to ensure his continued recovery. If you have any trout or plan on fishing today, please consider donating it to us. Your generosity can make all the difference in saving this majestic creature. Thank you for your kind consideration!

Iowa Bird Rehabilitation: Dozens of trumpeter swans are dying from lead poisoning "It's heartbreaking to watch them because they're sick, and they don't look good, and then they won't eat," Iowa Bird Rehabilitation founder Jenni Boonjakuak...

Here is your Sunday morning feel good story! 🦢🦢💕

Vivienne, one of the lead poisoned swans, and the only survivor, is doing good and still improving! She is currently being housed with Clark, a swan who came in early this year with a wing injury (from Clark County, hence his name, he's in front 🙂). The 2 of them love the company, and being that swans are fairly social, it has helped them both in their recovery to have each other.

Vivienne has gone through 2 rounds of chelation treatments. After the first round her lead levels were low and in a range that was acceptable. However, she gave us a big scare about 2 weeks after we stopped chelation and she started to show signs again. We tested her blood and once again the lead value increased. Although we felt confident she didn't have lead fragments still in her, she most likely still had lead in her bones and tissue, and her body was still working on eliminating it. We are happy to report after the second round of chelation, she is back to feeling better. We tested her blood 2 weeks post chelation, and it looked good. We will test one more time to feel absolutely confident that she is ok.

She is eating great, and starting to get anxious to get back into the wild, and to a source of water bigger than the small pool we can only offer 😁

We thank everyone who contributed to the swans care. It has been a long and difficult couple months, and heart breaking to lose so many. Although we could not save them all, we at least saved this one amazing girl. Hopefully she will go on to live a long and beautiful life 🦢💕

A few weeks ago we admitted our 9th Trumpeter Swan this year.

Another case of lead poisoning.

Our colleagues at Wildthunder Wildlife & Animal Rehabilitation & Sanctuary admitted the swan on March 6th from Linn County. Concerned abut lead, Tracy tested her blood, and sure enough it was positive. Tracy immediately started chelation therapy. The next day the swan was transferred to us. X-rays revealed lead, but not in the gizzard and possibly starting to pass through. We continued with chelation and supportive care. We knew, based on experience with the other lead poisoned swans, that her prognosis was poor. She was weak, couldn't stand, and thin. But just as with the others, we didn't want to give up and we had to try all that we could. Sadly, only 4 days later she passed away. Necropsy showed she had gastric impaction, a symptom of lead poisoning where they lose muscle control and can't digest food.

Thank you to Dr. Ford at Oaks Veterinary Clinic for always helping us with the tough cases.

Be free and fly high sweet Trumpeter 🦢💕

Can you tell the difference in steel and lead shot for upland birds?

A study from 2015 titled “A comparison of Lead and Steel Shot loads for Harvesting Mourning Doves” found that 53 hunters who took 5,094 shots to bag 1,146 doves in Texas were unable to discern any difference between lead 7.5, steel 7 or steel 6. These hunters actually guessed correctly less than they would with random chance, and that the lead 7.5s had fewer hits and more misses than the both the steel 7s and steel 6s.

https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/wsb.504

******er

🌳Today is the International Day of Forests!🌳 Forests generate oxygen, remove carbon from the air, provide food and fresh water, and help maintain healthy ecosystems. Some research indicates that simply being in a forested area boosts mental wellness, and by some estimates, forests are home to over 80% of the world's land-based plants, insects, and animal species, like Sierra the Red-shouldered Hawk. Talk about an ecosystem super star!

Prior to the turn of the 20th century, the Red-shouldered Hawk was considered to be one of the most common birds of prey in North America. Red-shouldered Hawks thrive in old growth forest biomes- these are forests that are very old, and have not been disturbed. Unfortunately, because these forests were the subject of deforestation in the 1900s, Red-shouldered Hawk populations decreased. Thankfully this species is adaptable and still doing well in the wild!

Photo by Tim Colley

Latest Condor Program five-year review in case you missed it: https://www.fws.gov/node/5093611

Nights like last night, thankfully, are few and far between. I had put a camera in Midas' cage (the Golden Eagle) and set an alarm to go off every hour. Just before midnight I realized that I was no longer hoping to discover him up and standing. He had been down for 8 hours, fighting for breath. I was waiting for him to stop. All hope was gone from me. I wanted peace for the both of us at this point, and I made it happen.
He took his last breath forehead to forehead with me. I asked him to go. Find a better place away from this toxic planet, and when he left, I felt him go.. and I thanked him for passing so peacefully.
Immediately there was a blanket of relief for us both, but anger gradually crept in. Though I do not yet have confirmation of lead poisoning, (all we know for sure is he had aspergillosis or possibly pneumonia) I expect it. I should find out today.

I am sick of standing vigil watching eagles die from lead ingestion. I am done. I am fed up and I am angry, and I am not alone.

I recently had a house up for sale. We are currently getting everything done for closing. One thing that came up during an inspection was lead paint testing. I handled all of the conversations professionally, but I really wanted to scream at the top of my lungs; "Why is everyone pretending to care? We catch our food with lead! We shoot our food with lead! We contaminate our lakes and rivers and streams and ponds with lead! Our air! And yet we still pretend to worry about paint???"

My self appointed job is to advocate for the wildlife, and I am getting nowhere. That platform just isn't tall enough, so let me point out the dangers we are ignoring that is NOT my job to point out;

If we were testing ourselves and our children for lead, we might actually see what we are doing and DO something about it.

From the CDC:
"Exposure to lead can seriously harm a child’s health and cause well-documented adverse effects such as:

Damage to the brain and nervous system
Slowed growth and development
Learning and behavior problems
Hearing and speech problems
This can cause:
Lower IQ
Decreased ability to pay attention
Underperformance in school"

Where is lead stored in the body?
Lead is stored in the bone for decades, causing long-term internal exposure. Lead enters the body primarily through inhalation and ingestion of lead containing dust. Once in the body, lead travels in the blood to soft tissues such as the liver, kidneys, lungs, brain, spleen, muscles, and heart. Lead is also stored in the fat cells.

Lead particles are found more than 18 inches away from a bullet's entry point in an animal, and most are microscopic. If you are using lead ammo to hunt for food, you are feeding your family lead dust. Period.

With the eagles, we will clean up their blood through binding the lead and as soon as I start exercising them, the lead will release from their body fat and we are back where we began, typically having to euthanize for heart failure. WHICH MEANS, a blood test for lead tells us very little about the true contamination. This applies to humans as well.

What can YOU do about it? Stop using lead for anything. Dispose of lead sinkers and ammo properly, and when you dispose of it, find out what the disposal consists of. Some will "recycle" meaning they are going to turn it into ammo and fishing weights. Seriously. Make sure it is going away for good.
THEN opt for lead alternatives. There are plenty. When we stop buying lead, they will stop supplying lead. This is madness.

It only takes 1 part per million lead to KILL an eagle. They are very sensitive to lead. They are the "canaries of the coal mine" for lead in our environment.... and we are ignoring them.

Annette

Donations on this post will fund us in April. We can’t do what we do without help.💚