Alliance files intent to sue state Fish and Game for negligence
in regulating lead ammo
On the heels of a massive poisoning of San Benito’s flock of
rare condors, a coalition of wildlife watchdog groups has filed an
intent to sue the California Fish and Game Commission for its
failure to regulate lead bullets in the state.
The effort, led by the San Francisco-based Center for Biological
Diversity, was precipitated by the recent revelation that 11 of the
13 condors at the Pinnacles National Monument in San Benito County
have elevated levels of lead in their systems due to feeding on the
dead carcasses of lead-shot squirrels.
Alliance files intent to sue state Fish and Game for negligence in regulating lead ammo
On the heels of a massive poisoning of San Benito’s flock of rare condors, a coalition of wildlife watchdog groups has filed an intent to sue the California Fish and Game Commission for its failure to regulate lead bullets in the state.
The effort, led by the San Francisco-based Center for Biological Diversity, was precipitated by the recent revelation that 11 of the 13 condors at the Pinnacles National Monument in San Benito County have elevated levels of lead in their systems due to feeding on the dead carcasses of lead-shot squirrels.
“The Pinnacles poisonings were definitely a factor, or catalyst, for this action,” said Jeff Miller, spokesman for the CBD.
The CBD is joined in the lawsuit by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the Wishtoyo Foundation (an environmental arm of California’s Chumash tribe), along with representatives from the hunting community. The coalition served a 60-day notice of intent to sue the commission required under the federal Endangered Species Act.
“We’re going to ask the court to find them in violation of the Endangered Species Act,” Miller said. “They’re taking these endangered species, harming and harassing them. There have been many condors killed because of lead ammunition and regularly exposed to unhealthy amounts of lead.”
Condors eat only dead animals and are extremely vulnerable to lead poisoning from spent and fractured bullets. It’s one of the reasons those involved with the national condor recovery effort, a $25 million endeavor, have lobbied to restrict the use of lead ammunition in condor country, which includes most of Central and coastal California.
Miller said the recent Pinnacle condor poisonings was the last straw in his organization’s attempts to compel the state Fish and Game Commission to ban lead ammunition in the areas where biologists of the national condor recovery effort have released the nearly extinct birds.
Environmentalists such as Miller and local condor biologists have reported that the Fish and Game Commission has rejected all pleas to ban lead ammunition in condor territory – a swath of land through the middle of the state from Ventura County to Big Sur – claiming they are not convinced the lead poisonings in condors and raptors are caused by ammunition.
But the commission was proved wrong that summer when two condors at a release sight in the Grand Canyon died from ingesting lead bullet fragments. Another incident in California was a potential poisoning from lead.
There are only 125 free-flying California condors in the world today. Lead poisoning has caused nine confirmed condor deaths since 1997 and is implicated in the death or disappearance of at least 15 other condors in southern California alone. Scores more condors have required life-saving emergency blood treatment involving intrusive chemical therapy after ingesting lead.
Arizona’s Game and Fish Department has determined through an ongoing scientific study “that lead from spent ammunition is a major source of lead in exposed condors and that lead from the local environment does not appear to be a factor,” reads a statement from the agency’s Web site.
Miller said he and his associates were alarmed when they started investigating the number of lead poisonings in condors last year.
“There were something like 80 incidents. It was twice as high as we suspected,” Miller said.
Many more unaccounted condor deaths, said Miller, could easily be attributed to neurological damage caused by ingesting lead fragments. Once the lead is in the birds’ systems, they exhibit impaired motor skills by flying into power lines, drinking anti-freeze, feeding their young micro-trash or in some cases they simply starve to death.
CBD’s warning against the state Fish and Game comes after a local environmental crisis erupted a month ago when a satellite monitor showed the birds – many tagged with GPS devices – had gathered at one point in Long Valley near Coalinga. Pinnacle wildlife biologists found the flock gorging on a field of dead, lead-shot squirrels that two hunters had been blasting all morning.
The Pinnacle biologists recently decided to test all 13 birds for lead poisoning. So far, they have captured and tested 12 of them – one of the birds flew to the Big Sur release site to hang out with the older flock at Ventana Wildlife Sanctuary, and has yet to return.
Preliminary field tests indicated the birds were under the critical level for lead poisoning – marked at 0.60 micrograms – but when laboratory results came back, the levels were nearly doubled. The worst case was condor No. 307, which posted a lead level of 0.63.
The condor handlers had to place 307 in a sort of “intensive care unit” within one of the cubbyholes of the flight pen while she underwent the chelation treatments, and this was done during the intense heat of the last two weeks.
“We didn’t want to create more trauma for her by chasing her around the flight pen,” said Carl Brenner, Pinnacles supervisor of interpretation and education. “So we had to keep her in this dark, hot box but it was the only way we could treat her.”
No. 307 is now out of the oppressive cubbyhole, moves freely within the aviary and is slated for release next week. But Brenner explained that while the condors’ lead levels have lowered, the lead has already absorbed into their bones and will slowly leach back into their blood stream throughout the year. If the gangly birds ingest any more lead within a year – an ominous possibility with hunting season around the corner – the toxin will hit their systems at a much faster rate.
While lead-free ammunition is available for larger guns, it is not manufactured for .22 calibers and smaller guns used for “varmint” shooting. Proponents of banning lead bullets believe manufacturers would be compelled to create lead-free bullets for the smaller guns as well. Those who oppose the lead ban cite a number of reasons, from the lack of a suitable alternative to higher costs.
But informed hunters say there are better alternatives, such as lead-free bullets made from copper and other materials.
One local ranch manager, Chris Ketchum of the Paicines Ranch, applauds the use of non-lead ammunition and is setting an example for other ranches in the area. Like most ranchers, Ketchum must eliminate varmints such as squirrels and coyotes from his operation in order to protect his stock and their feed. But in doing so, he uses only non-lead bullets, such as those made of copper or steel made by Winchester or Hardy.
“It works for us,” Ketchum said. “It’s all part of the ecosystem.”
Officials of the Pinnacles National Monument are hosting a series of Town Hall meetings to work with the community in their efforts to help the local population of condors survive in the wild. The first forum will be held at Jefferson School off of Airline Highway on July 25, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The second will be held at the San Benito County Public Library on Fifth Street, July 27, also from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The public is encouraged to attend.
