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These tree-huggers are as dumb as a bag of hammers, I swear. This story is just plain ridiculous. They want us to stop shooting squirrels and other varmints with normal bullets, and use ones that don't harm some kind of buzzard?
What's next? Are we supposed to wipe the drool off their beaks?
Lead Poisoning Eyed As Threat to California Condor
By John Ritter
SAN FRANCISCO -- One of the great feel-good environmental stories of the past 30 years is the recovery of the majestic California condor, North America's largest bird, a scavenger-turned-billboard for the campaign to save endangered species.
On the brink of extinction, saved by a captive-breeding program, the condor population has grown from just 22 birds in 1982 to 289 today; 135 are in the wild and more are released every year.
Even so, condors have failed to gain a secure foothold in the hills and deserts of California and Arizona because of lead poisoning, the most often diagnosed cause of death, environmentalists say.
Environmental groups say the most likely source is condors' eating of game that was shot by hunters using lead bullets. Frustrated that most hunters have not switched to substitutes, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and other groups notified California officials in July that they will sue under the Endangered Species Act to force a ban.
At a meeting of state fish and game staff this month to discuss potential hunting-rule changes to recommend, the groups again asked for a ban on lead ammunition. A decision is likely early next year. Lead shot used in shotguns to hunt waterfowl has been prohibited since the 1980s.
Andrew Wexler of the NRDC's endangered species project says, "The commissioners have a historic opportunity. It's a mystery why they've resisted a ban because the scientific evidence is so overwhelming."
That evidence isn't conclusive, says Steve Williams, president of the Wildlife Management Institute, whose goal is to restore North American wildlife. "There are other potential pathways for lead," says Williams, a former director of the Fish and Wildlife Service in the Bush administration. "I wouldn't speculate on what those other sources may be." He's "happy to learn that hunters are taking action on their own" but says more study is needed.
By John Ritter
SAN FRANCISCO -- One of the great feel-good environmental stories of the past 30 years is the recovery of the majestic California condor, North America's largest bird, a scavenger-turned-billboard for the campaign to save endangered species.
On the brink of extinction, saved by a captive-breeding program, the condor population has grown from just 22 birds in 1982 to 289 today; 135 are in the wild and more are released every year.
Even so, condors have failed to gain a secure foothold in the hills and deserts of California and Arizona because of lead poisoning, the most often diagnosed cause of death, environmentalists say.
Environmental groups say the most likely source is condors' eating of game that was shot by hunters using lead bullets. Frustrated that most hunters have not switched to substitutes, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and other groups notified California officials in July that they will sue under the Endangered Species Act to force a ban.
At a meeting of state fish and game staff this month to discuss potential hunting-rule changes to recommend, the groups again asked for a ban on lead ammunition. A decision is likely early next year. Lead shot used in shotguns to hunt waterfowl has been prohibited since the 1980s.
Andrew Wexler of the NRDC's endangered species project says, "The commissioners have a historic opportunity. It's a mystery why they've resisted a ban because the scientific evidence is so overwhelming."
That evidence isn't conclusive, says Steve Williams, president of the Wildlife Management Institute, whose goal is to restore North American wildlife. "There are other potential pathways for lead," says Williams, a former director of the Fish and Wildlife Service in the Bush administration. "I wouldn't speculate on what those other sources may be." He's "happy to learn that hunters are taking action on their own" but says more study is needed.
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