Almost half of bald and golden eagles in the United States have lead poisoning, according to the largest study of its kind. The findings could spell bad news for the recovery of both species.
“It’s a strong paper that pulls together quite a bit of information,” says Bryan Watts, an ecologist at the College of William & Mary who wasn’t involved with the work. The study, he notes, surveyed eagles in 38 states, whereas previous work focused on a single region or just a handful of states. “This really solid analysis allows us to look at the eagles’ entire range.”
When an eagle eats lead—usually in the form of ammunition left behind in deer and other carcasses—it shows up in the bloodstream, filters through the liver, and can build up in the bones if the bird eats enough lead throughout its lifetime. So Vincent Slabe, a wildlife biologist at the nonprofit Conservation Science Global, and his colleagues began to collect samples from birds. Over a period of 8 years, they gathered tissue from 1210 bald and golden eagles. Wildlife monitors banding birds with tracking transmitters and veterinarians rehabilitating sick or injured individuals sent feathers and blood to the team, and the researchers gathered liver and bone samples from dead eagles.
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