What poisons eagles
I’ve read about eagles in other parts of North America getting sick on food they eat because of lead poisoning. Do eagles on the BC coast suffer from lead poisoning, too? Apparently. According to a Canwest article, two Vancouver Island eagles died from lead poisoning last year:
Two Vancouver Island eagles that died last spring were killed by ingesting lead — possibly from eating fishing jigs or discarded lead shot, toxicology reports show.
The North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre recently received toxicology reports on two eagles submitted for testing in March 2009. The two eagles from the Parksville and Qualicum Beach were severely emaciated and had no fractures or visible hemorrhaging. [continue]
That’s pretty close to Gabriola. I hope our island eagles are free of lead.
Related:
- North Island Wildlife Recovery Association – niwra.org
Filed in birds One Response so far
Michael Mehta on 07 Feb 2010 at 7:44 pm #
There’s little doubt that bald eagles do indeed die when lead builds up in their system. Lead poisoning often comes from lead shot that is consumed when eagles eat waterfowl that have been shot by hunters. That said, little is known about the dose-response relationship in eagles specifically, and most data is derived from posthumous analysis of stomach content, blood levels, and other tissue samples.