Lead ammunition blamed for collateral damage, toxic venison
A OPINION by Ted Williams, Photo courtesy of Animal Wellness Action
A coalition of 20 wildlife-advocacy organizations, led by Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy, has petitioned the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for a prohibition on lead-based hunting ammunition.
“Our petition lays out a clear legal and scientific case for regulatory action in New York,” declares Wayne Pacelle, president and founder of the two leading groups. “This is not a close call. Hunters can continue their traditions with safer ammunition, wildlife can be spared needless poisoning, and families relying on donated venison can be protected from toxic exposure.”
Lead destroys brain and other nerve tissue, bioaccumulates in bones and degrades kidney and liver function.
Studies show that blood lead levels in families that consume lead-shot venison are significantly higher than normal. “Even low levels of lead in blood have been shown to negatively affect a child’s intelligence, ability to pay attention, and academic achievement,” reports CDC.
Forty-eight percent of ground venison packets analyzed in Illinois contained lead fragments.
Iowa requires this warning label on venison donated by hunters in the “Help Us Stop Hunger” program: “Lead fragments may be found in processed venison. Children under 6 years and pregnant women are at the greatest risk.”
New York hunters can legally kill multiple antlered deer (sometimes as many as five or six), provided they first kill an antlerless deer. What’s more, a 2026 rule permits some hunters in some areas to kill as many deer as they can. So, the danger of lead poisoning to New Yorkers and their wildlife is greater than in most states.
Across the nation, at least 20 million birds and mammals annually die from scavenging big-game gut piles laced with lead-bullet fragments. A single size-6 lead shotgun pellet (no larger than a grain of rice) can fatally poison an adult eagle.
Data from DEC and wildlife rehab centers show that lead levels in raptors spike during the state’s deer hunting season.
A 30-year study across seven northeastern states, including New York, found that 78 percent of bald eagles showed signs of lead exposure.
An eight-year study published in the February 17, 2022 issue of Science found that “almost half” of all bald and golden eagles sampled in the U.S. had “toxic levels of lead” that appeared “high enough to suppress population growth.” Forty percent of bald eagles sampled in New York suffered from toxic lead levels.
DEC, the North American Non-Lead Partnership and Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, oppose mandatory use of non-toxic ammo, advocating voluntary use instead. That’s worked about as well as voluntary pollution control before the Clean Water Act of 1972.
Ten years ago, an estimated 95 percent of New York hunters used lead ammo. According to a 2023 study by Cornell University (latest data available), that percentage hasn’t changed — this despite a $60 rebate offered by DEC to hunters using non-toxic ammo.
Non-toxic ammo is readily available and only marginally more expensive than lead. The added seasonal expense for a competent New York deer hunter would be roughly the cost of a latte and two donuts.
Ammo companies introduced non-toxic, non-fragmenting copper bullets — not to prevent lead poisoning, but to kill game more effectively. As DEC reports, “Fortunately, today’s harder copper and other copper alloy bullets and [shotgun] slugs typically remain intact on impact, transferring more energy to the target by folding downward into ‘petals’ that greatly expand the surface area. The result is a very effective, quick, humane kill.”
Lead ammo was banned for all U.S. waterfowl hunting in 1991. Not only has the ban saved an estimated 1.6 to 3 million ducks, geese, and swans annually, but the average number of ducks harvested per hunter with mandated non-toxic shot jumped from approximately 4.7 birds in 1988 to 12 birds by 1998.
In 2019, California required all hunters to use non-toxic ammo, and there has been no drop in hunting license sales.
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“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately. But when I got there I found, to my great regret, that I was unable to log onto Ted Williams’ conservation articles.”
–Thoreau
More on the Author:
https://e360.yale.edu/authors/ted-williams
