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Impact of the California Lead Ammunition Ban on Reducing Lead Exposure in Golden Eagles and Turkey Vultures

Predatory and scavenging birds may be exposed to high levels of lead when they ingest shot or bullet fragments embedded in the tissues of animals injured or killed with lead ammunition. Lead poisoning was a contributing factor in the decline of the endangered California condor population in the 1980...

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Autores principales: Kelly, Terra R., Bloom, Peter H., Torres, Steve G., Hernandez, Yvette Z., Poppenga, Robert H., Boyce, Walter M., Johnson, Christine K.
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3071804/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21494329
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017656
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author Kelly, Terra R.
Bloom, Peter H.
Torres, Steve G.
Hernandez, Yvette Z.
Poppenga, Robert H.
Boyce, Walter M.
Johnson, Christine K.
author_facet Kelly, Terra R.
Bloom, Peter H.
Torres, Steve G.
Hernandez, Yvette Z.
Poppenga, Robert H.
Boyce, Walter M.
Johnson, Christine K.
author_sort Kelly, Terra R.
collection PubMed
description Predatory and scavenging birds may be exposed to high levels of lead when they ingest shot or bullet fragments embedded in the tissues of animals injured or killed with lead ammunition. Lead poisoning was a contributing factor in the decline of the endangered California condor population in the 1980s, and remains one of the primary factors threatening species recovery. In response to this threat, a ban on the use of lead ammunition for most hunting activities in the range of the condor in California was implemented in 2008. Monitoring of lead exposure in predatory and scavenging birds is essential for assessing the effectiveness of the lead ammunition ban in reducing lead exposure in these species. In this study, we assessed the effectiveness of the regulation in decreasing blood lead concentration in two avian sentinels, golden eagles and turkey vultures, within the condor range in California. We compared blood lead concentration in golden eagles and turkey vultures prior to the lead ammunition ban and one year following implementation of the ban. Lead exposure in both golden eagles and turkey vultures declined significantly post-ban. Our findings provide evidence that hunter compliance with lead ammunition regulations was sufficient to reduce lead exposure in predatory and scavenging birds at our study sites.
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spelling pubmed-30718042011-04-14 Impact of the California Lead Ammunition Ban on Reducing Lead Exposure in Golden Eagles and Turkey Vultures Kelly, Terra R. Bloom, Peter H. Torres, Steve G. Hernandez, Yvette Z. Poppenga, Robert H. Boyce, Walter M. Johnson, Christine K. PLoS One Research Article Predatory and scavenging birds may be exposed to high levels of lead when they ingest shot or bullet fragments embedded in the tissues of animals injured or killed with lead ammunition. Lead poisoning was a contributing factor in the decline of the endangered California condor population in the 1980s, and remains one of the primary factors threatening species recovery. In response to this threat, a ban on the use of lead ammunition for most hunting activities in the range of the condor in California was implemented in 2008. Monitoring of lead exposure in predatory and scavenging birds is essential for assessing the effectiveness of the lead ammunition ban in reducing lead exposure in these species. In this study, we assessed the effectiveness of the regulation in decreasing blood lead concentration in two avian sentinels, golden eagles and turkey vultures, within the condor range in California. We compared blood lead concentration in golden eagles and turkey vultures prior to the lead ammunition ban and one year following implementation of the ban. Lead exposure in both golden eagles and turkey vultures declined significantly post-ban. Our findings provide evidence that hunter compliance with lead ammunition regulations was sufficient to reduce lead exposure in predatory and scavenging birds at our study sites. Public Library of Science 2011-04-06 /pmc/articles/PMC3071804/ /pubmed/21494329 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017656 Text en Kelly et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Kelly, Terra R.
Bloom, Peter H.
Torres, Steve G.
Hernandez, Yvette Z.
Poppenga, Robert H.
Boyce, Walter M.
Johnson, Christine K.
Impact of the California Lead Ammunition Ban on Reducing Lead Exposure in Golden Eagles and Turkey Vultures
title Impact of the California Lead Ammunition Ban on Reducing Lead Exposure in Golden Eagles and Turkey Vultures
title_full Impact of the California Lead Ammunition Ban on Reducing Lead Exposure in Golden Eagles and Turkey Vultures
title_fullStr Impact of the California Lead Ammunition Ban on Reducing Lead Exposure in Golden Eagles and Turkey Vultures
title_full_unstemmed Impact of the California Lead Ammunition Ban on Reducing Lead Exposure in Golden Eagles and Turkey Vultures
title_short Impact of the California Lead Ammunition Ban on Reducing Lead Exposure in Golden Eagles and Turkey Vultures
title_sort impact of the california lead ammunition ban on reducing lead exposure in golden eagles and turkey vultures
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3071804/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21494329
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017656
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