I watched a show on TV a couple of nights ago about eagles picking up lead. Sometimes they get it from shot in dead carcasses. They pick it up and ingest bullet fragments, spent lead shot and in fishing equipment like lead sinkers. Lead poisoning is the worst threat to eagles. Hunters gut animals like deer and leave the dead animal thinking it will feed the wild animals. But then animals come along and end up eating the lead. Or feed it to their young. Scientists can also measure the amount of lead in bird feathers and figure how long a bird was exposed to lead. It was an interesting show. One of the clubs I shoot at retrieves their shot every year. That is a good thing.
