MANSFIELD, Ohio — Wildlife officials have discovered that bald eagles are dying of lead poisoning. One of the causes, they believe, is the consumption of lead bullet-riddled carrion.
Gail Laux, executive director of the Ohio Bird Sanctuary, explained, “If somebody shoots a deer using a lead bullet and leaves the carcass behind, the eagles will feed on that,” causing them to contract lead poisoning.
Even when animals are field-dressed (internal organs are removed), there’s often lead in a lot of the discarded remains, she said.
According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service website, bald eagles feed on waterfowl, turtles, rabbits, snakes, and other small animals and carrion. Laux said bald eagles are hunters, scavengers, and pirates–meaning they steal food from other animals.
Cases of bald eagles dying as a result of lead poisoning have been confirmed in a number of states throughout the country, including Ohio. Laux said that in the last two years, there have been two confirmed cases in counties surrounding Richland County.
She said, “The reason we’re seeing more cases of [bald eagles with lead poisoning] is that there is an increase in the bald eagle population. The increase in number of cases is probably directly related to the increase in number of eagles.”
In 1940, Congress passed the Bald Eagle Protection Act, which prohibited killing, selling or possessing the species.
The bald eagle population was affected shortly after World War II when DDT was used to control mosquitoes and other insects. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service website says, “DDT and its residues washed into nearby waterways, where aquatic plants and fish absorbed it. Bald eagles, in turn, were poisoned with DDT when they ate the contaminated fish.”
By 1963, there were only 487 nesting pairs of bald eagles remaining throughout the country, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service website.
“Based on the most recent population figures, the service estimates that there are at least 9,789 nesting pairs of bald eagles in the contiguous United States. Bald eagles have staged a remarkable population rebound and have recovered to the point that they no longer need the protection of the Endangered Species Act,” the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service website states.
While bald eagles have been removed from the endangered species list, Laux said they are considered “threatened” in the state of Ohio. She said that threatened means, “The populations are not declining, but they’re vulnerable. Usually a threatened species has more of what we call ‘pocket populations.’ We had this problem in Ohio for awhile–all of our eagles were up by [Lake Erie]. And so if something happened, especially up by the lake, it would have probably impacted our entire eagle population.”
She continued, “They’re now found pretty much throughout the state of Ohio. We still have a larger number up by the lake, but we’re now finding them along pretty much every large waterway –whether it’s Alum Creek or Pleasant Hill or Clear Fork Reservoir.”
According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife website, the number of bald eagle breeding pairs in Ohio hit a low of four pairs in 1979. It adds, “In 2015, the number of estimated breeding pairs increased to 207 and produced an estimated 288 young. In the past five years (2011-2015), the estimated average number of nests was 200, and the estimated average number of young was 279. The yearly fluctuations in breeding pairs and number of young produced may indicate a stabilization of the population. While breeding populations of bald eagles tend to be more concentrated in certain areas, wintering bald eagles can be seen throughout the state.”
“I think at this point we’re fortunate enough to have the eagle [population] recovering in Ohio, and so we want to make sure that things we’re doing are not impeding their recovery,” said Laux.
One of the ways people can help is by using steel bullets instead of lead when hunting, she said.
“People use lead bullets because it’s a less expensive ammunition, but it does have a greater impact on the environment, so the more we use steel over lead, we’re going to have less of an environmental impact,” she said.
Laux said lead poisoning isn’t the only way eagles have been poisoned. She said people have used illegal methods to try to poison raccoons or other “nuisance animals” that invade their gardens; the eagles, in turn, are affected by feeding on the poisoned animals.
“There needs to be a more environmentally sensitive way to get rid of what people consider a ‘nuisance animal,'” she said.
“I think at this point we’re fortunate enough to have the eagle [population] recovering in Ohio, and so we want to make sure that things we’re doing are not impeding their recovery,” said Gail Laux.
