Fight to protect California condors from lead ammunition moves to Arizona [View All]

[jody]

Fight to protect California condors from lead ammunition moves to Arizona

It has been 22 years since the last 22 California condors (Gymnogyps californianus) were collected from the wild and placed in captive breeding programs. The species, which nearly went extinct due to habitat loss, poaching, DDT and lead poisoning, has since rebounded to 332 birds, according to counts maintained by the Zoological Society of San Diego. But despite that conservation success, condors still face a major threat from lead poisoning, which often occurs when the birds eat carcasses killed by hunters' lead ammunition.

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To help the endangered birds, California banned the use of most lead ammunition in condor habitats in 2007. This year, the CBD filed a lawsuit to institute a similar ban on federal lands around the Grand Canyon in Arizona, where about a third of the world's wild California condors live. The CBD argues that the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management and Fish & Wildlife Service are violating the Endangered Species Act by allowing the use of toxic lead ammunition in the condor's protected habitat.

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But is the NRA's science strong enough? "The science is in on lead in wildlife and other carnivores. There's no debate," says the CBD's Miller. "The only debate is over what makes sense from a policy point of view. There are alternative ammunitions, which are becoming more widely available, and their cost is coming down. Switching from lead is no problem."

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California's lead-ammo ban has already been a success, at least in terms of acceptance by hunters. Earlier this year, the state's Fish and Game Commission reported that 99 percent of hunters they field-checked were in compliance with the new laws. "The irony is that hunters play an important roll in the recovery of condors," Miller says. "Condors feed primarily on hunters' carcasses. Hunters love copper bullets. There's no reason to keep using lead."