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Dear John,
It was a heartbreaking image. A majestic bald eagle reduced to a quivering, grounded creature, with a bowed head and drooped wings.
Lead poisoning at work.
We MUST end the unnecessary poisoning of wildlife from lead ammunition. Donate $ today to help us put an end to it today. [[link removed]]
DONATE [[link removed]]
It’s an all-too-common sight at wildlife rehabilitation centers across the nation. And there are countless circumstances where the bald eagles perish outside of the gaze of any humane-minded person who might come to their aid. They are debilitated, alone, and unable to fly or even walk as the lead poisons them from the inside out.
I reported to you last week on a joint investigation by the Center for a Humane Economy and the animal-welfare group SHARK [[link removed]] that exposed a grotesque live pigeon shoot in Okeechobee, Fla.
Led by Jack Link’s Meat Snacks CEO Troy Link, more than 100 shooters took aim at starved, dehydrated pigeons released in front of them for them to slaughter en masse. Our investigators estimate these remorseless people killed 15,000 pigeons.
Some of them were injured and flew out of the shooting circles, only to go unretrieved. There, bald eagles and other animals would swoop down on them and consume them—ingesting the deadly lead fragments that peppered their bodies.
Long after lead has left the barrel of a weapon, animals inadvertently consume the spent metal in their feeding and scavenging activities.
A 2022 study in Science [[link removed]] examined 1,210 bald and golden eagles across 38 states and found that nearly half of them had “bone lead concentrations above thresholds for chronic poisoning.”
But it’s not just eagles. More than 500 scientific studies [[link removed]] published since 1898 have documented that worldwide, 134 species of wildlife are negatively affected by lead ammunition.
Hunters who shoot deer and other animals using lead ammunition leave tiny, widely dispersed [[link removed]] fragments in their kill, which are ingested by other animals and also by hunters and their families when they consume the meat.
One study showed that 34 percent of processed and packaged white-tailed deer meat [[link removed]] killed with lead shot contained metal fragments.
In 1978, we banned lead-based paints, followed by replacing lead in drinking water pipes, and in 1996 we finalized the national ban on lead in our gasoline.
In 1991, U.S. Fish & Wildlife banned lead ammunition for hunting migratory waterfowl nationwide, and we’ve seen the result: millions of ducks, geese, swans, and coots every year have been spared needless suffering and death.
But now all other species must be protected from the lead menace.
It’s time to ban lead in American sport hunting—for the sake of animals and people.
National Legislation Would Ban Lead Ammunition at National Wildlife Refuges
Last week, U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Cory Booker, D.-N.J., introduced the Lead Endangers Animals Daily (LEAD) Act, S. 3852, to ban the use of lead ammunition on our national wildlife refuges. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., has a companion bill in the House.
Currently, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service allows sport hunting on refuges and on nearly all of them, lead ammunition is still permitted. It’s a disgrace and the Biden Administration is tolerating this mass poisoning of eagles and other wildlife on the one category of federal lands specifically set aside to benefit wildlife.
Will you reach out to your two U.S. Senators and your U.S. Representative in support of this legislation? [[link removed]]
CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS [[link removed]]
Lead Bullets Are Deadly Long after the Hunt
We know that non-toxic ammunition is available in place of lead.
Given that the World Health Organization has made it clear there is no level of exposure to lead that is known to be without harmful effects, we hope sensible minds in government and in the hunting community will prevail.
We know with certainty that everyone is at risk of being poisoned by lead with life-altering, devastating effects—especially children, whose brain development and even survival are at risk.
We’ll work to build support for the Lead Endangers Animals Daily (LEAD) Act in both chambers of Congress.
Remember, we are also very focused on working to halt Troy Link’s live-pigeon-shooting escapades in Florida and throughout the nation. It’s pathetic that people would shoot birds as nothing more than animated targets – not doing so for food or wildlife management, but just the thrill of shooting a poor, defenseless animal. They are slaughtered in the most unsporting and wasteful ways, even though the shooters can opt for sporting clays. You can sign our petition to the company here [[link removed]] .
And also please remember, the Center for a Humane Economy is fighting on so many fronts for animals. We are working on national and state policies to halt cruel live pigeon shoots and also to get the lead out of all sport hunting. But we need your help to win these critical battles. Please don’t let this moment pass without taking action.
Sincerely,
Wayne Pacelle [[link removed]] Wayne Pacelle
President
Center for a Humane Economy
DONATE NOW [[link removed]]
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Center for a Humane Economy
PO Box 30845
Bethesda, MD 208243
United States
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