doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Lead shot increasingly under fire

It's sort of annoying to see folks claim that there is no validity in something that is quite well established scientifically. It takes about 2 minutes in scholar.google.com to find lots of references to bone up on the subject IF YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW. But then who REALLY wants to know right?

But here is the abstract and citation from just one follow up study on the benefits of nontoxic shot. Be careful. If you really don't want to know this little inconvenient detail, stop reading right here...


Titre du document / Document title
Ingestion of lead and nontoxic shotgun pellets by ducks in the Mississippi flyway
Auteur(s) / Author(s)
ANDERSON W. L. (1) ; HAVERA S. P. (2) ; ZERCHER B. W. (2) ;
Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s)
(1) Illinois Department of Natural Resources, 279 Natural Resources Building, 607 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL 61820, ETATS-UNIS
(2) Illinois Natural History Survey, Forbes Biological Station, F.C. Bellrose Waterfowl Research Center, P.O. Box 590, Havana, IL 62644, ETATS-UNIS
Résumé / Abstract
We examined the extent to which ingested nontoxic (steel and bismuth-tin) shotgun pellets replaced toxic (lead) pellets in ducks harvested in the Mississippi Flyway during the 1996 and 1997 hunting seasons (fifth and sixth yr after nationwide conversion to nontoxic shot). Gizzards were collected from 16,651 ducks and processed for the presence of pellets. Prevalences of ingested pellets were 8.9% for 15,147 mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), 12.7% for 749 ring-necked ducks (Aythya collaris), 4.3% for 579 scaups (Aythya affinis and A. marila), and 9.7% for 176 canvasbacks (Aythya valisineria). For gizzards with ingested pellets, as much as 68% of mallard, 45% of ring-necked duck, 44% of scaup, and 71% of canvasback contained only nontoxic pellets. We estimated that nontoxic shot reduced mortality from lead poisoning in Mississippi Flyway mallards by 64%. Ingestion of ≥2 toxic pellets declined by as much as 78%. To the extent that our findings apply to other species and flyways in North America, an estimated 1.4 million ducks in the 1997 fall continental flight of 90 million were spared from fatal lead poisoning. Only 1.1% of 1,318 gizzards positive for shot-in pellets came from ducks shot with toxic pellets, and only 1 toxic fishing sinker was found in the 16,651 duck gizzards.
Revue / Journal Title
The Journal of wildlife management (J. wildl. manage.) ISSN 0022-541X CODEN JWMAA9
Source / Source
2000, vol. 64, no3, pp. 848-857 (1 p.1/4)
Langue / Language