Lead poisoning Birds

Birds facing a lingering death from lead poisoning were today thrown a life line by Environment Minister Michael Meacher.

Thousands of birds including ducks, geese and swans should be saved by a ban on the use of lead shot over English wetlands. The ban will come into effect from September 1 - the start of the waterfowl hunting season - under regulations made under the Environment Protection Act 1990. Michael Meacher said: "Waterfowl suffer a slow and debilitating death when they swallow lead shot. These losses to the bird population are quite simply unnecessary. Our environment and our wildlife is precious. We must make every effort to preserve it. We have tried phasing out the use of lead shot voluntarily. Unfortunately, this has not been effective. So from September 1, we are introducing a ban to protect waterfowl and protect the thousands of birds needlessly at risk from lead poisoning. This is not a backdoor attempt to stop hunting. It is a move to alter hunting techniques to ensure the after-effects of hunting do not cause unnecessary deaths."

In wetlands, where shooting takes place, there is widespread lead poisoning among the waterfowl population. Waterfowl are particularly prone to eating lead as they take in grit to help digestion. It is estimated between two and three per cent of mallards are likely to die each year from lead poisoning in the UK. This can rise as high as five per cent for waterfowl species in some areas. The ban will apply to the use of lead shot on or over all Ramsar sites, as well as those Special Protection Areas and other SSSIs which have been identified by English Nature as sites important for waterfowl. It will also apply to areas below the high water mark of ordinary spring tides. Outside these areas shooting ducks and geese with lead shot is banned. Today's move follows consultation with local authorities, field sport societies, gun and ammunition manufacturers, shooting organisations, conservation groups and enforcement agencies. From 1 September, offenders will face penalties of up to £1,000 fine in the criminal courts.

The new regulations are introduced under section 140 of the Environment Protection Act 1990. They make the use of lead shot in protected areas an offence subject to a level 3 fine in the Magistrates' Court. A consultation paper was issued by the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions on 8 April 1999, proposing the introduction of the ban. Over 400 responses were received to the consultation paper, mainly from shooting interests. Local authorities, field sport societies, gun and ammunition manufacturers, shooting organisations, conservation groups and enforcement agencies have all been consulted in the past.

A voluntary phase-out of lead shot was introduced in 1995. The Department took the view that a voluntary approach was not sufficient for ensuring the protection of waterfowl. The ban meets the UK's commitment under the African-Eurasian Agreement to endeavour to phase out the use of lead shot over wetlands by 2000. Major UK cartridge manufacturers and importers will be making a number of alternatives to lead shot available for the coming hunting season, including steel, tin, tungsten matrix and bismuth. Most lead weights used in angling were banned in 1987.

Regulations to restrict the use of lead shot in Scotland and Wales will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly respectively.

LEAD POISONING IN WATERFOWL

Waterfowl are particularly susceptible to lead poisoning as they swallow grit to help digestion. Lead shot gets into the grit in wetland sites as a direct result of hunting. There are two forms of lead poisoning: acute and chronic. Acute lead poisoning usually follows when a bird swallows a very large number of lead shot (40-300). Death results within one to three days without the bird becoming noticeably sick and without the loss of very much weight. Such birds, often Canada geese, are found to have good to excellent flesh, have good to excellent deposits of fat, but have a large amount of lead in the gizzard and large patches of dead heart muscle. The more common form of poisoning is the chronic variety, which follows when a bird eats 1-15 pellets, most often one or two. The bird develops a slow, progressive illnesses that requires two to three weeks to end in death. Diarrhoea is often the first sign of illness, characterised by brilliant, almost fluorescent, green staining of the feathers and faeces. The muscles gradually weaken, characterised at first by the abnormal positioning of the wings. A progressive loss of flight ensues. As the ability to fly deteriorates, birds turn to dense cover for refuge. If not caught and eaten by a predator, the bird finally becomes comatose and dies. Affected birds lose 30-40, sometimes 60, per cent of their weight. Fat deposits under the skin, in the stomach and around the heart are lost and the breast muscles waste away, resulting in what is known as "hatchet-breast". The throat of the bird is usually packed with undigested food due to paralysis of the upper gastrointestinal tract. This can extend from the angle of the jaw along the entire length of the neck into the chest cavity and into the gizzard. Weakened and emaciated lead-poisoned birds, if picked up, frequently die after a few brief struggles. Studies have shown that lead-poisoned Canada geese suffer "heart attacks". Post mortems have also revealed an emaciated carcass; wasting away of the liver; and, an enlarged gall bladder, distended with thick, dark-green bile.