If signed into law, the bill would ban the use of lead bullets
to hunt animals such as deer and feral pigs in the California
condor range starting July 1, 2008.
Hollister – The California Senate passed a bill this week that would prohibit the use of lead bullets to hunt big game in the state’s endangered condor range, including in all of San Benito County.
If signed into law, the bill would ban the use of lead bullets to hunt animals such as deer and feral pigs in the California condor range starting July 1, 2008.
Called the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act, the bill passed the California Senate on Tuesday by a vote of 23-15. It goes to the Assembly for a vote on Senate ammendments and, if passed, would be sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for consideration.
Proponents of the bill argue there is a scientific link between the use of lead ammunition and lead poisoning in the endangered species. A consortium of scientists announced in July that isotopes found in lead bullet samples were significantly similar to those found in blood of condors suffering from poisoning.
“Based on the level of mortality we’ve seen in California and Arizona, it is impossible to have a self-sustaining population with the continued use of lead ammunition,” said Kelly Sorenson, executive director of the Ventana Wildlife Society.
Sorenson said 12 of the 48 California condor deaths in the wild, since the reintroduction of the endangered species began in 1997, have been due to lead poisoning. Of the 12, a link to lead poisoning has been confirmed in four of the deaths, while found to be probable in four and suspected in another four, Sorenson said.
Sorenson’s colleagues presented the California Fish and Game Commission the mortality figures last week at a hearing to consider its own ban on the use of lead ammunition, he said. The commission has not made a decision regarding the ban.
The most recent death occurred in August when a condor trapped at the Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge died while undergoing lead poisoning treatment at the Los Angeles Zoo. Tests in July showed the bird had more than 50 times the blood-lead levels to warrant emergency care in children and 10 times the amount for condors, according to Audubon California.
Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, who authored the bill, said he was pleased the bill passed through the Legislature, but that he would not let up pressure once it hits the governor’s desk.
Nava said the Fish and Game Commission would be acting appropriately if it changed regulations to ban the use of lead bullets in the California condor range.
“It sends a clear message to hunters that the change is going to be respected,” Nava said.
But Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Temecula, predicted the bill would hurt the state’s economy by discouraging people from spending money on hunting.
“This may be well-intentioned but it is sorely misguided,” he told the Associated Press.
Tom Hauck, a Hollister resident and avid hunter, said the ban is a Second Amendment issue.
“This is just another way to take the guns and bullets away from the people who are responsible,” Hauck said.
Researchers argue that condors ingest the lead from carcasses and gut piles left by hunters.
But Hauck, a lifetime National Rifle Association member, said burying gut piles is part of being a responsible hunter. Hauck said switching from lead ammunition to non-lead ammunition would be more costly – and that he uses either depending on what he’s hunting.
Hauck contended using non-lead ammunition would result in more wounded animals because it does not weigh enough to guarantee a kill.
“By the time impact is made it’s doing more muscle and flesh damage than taking them down,” Hauck said.
