First of all, bald eagles are not endangered. Not even threatened. Since we got rid of DDT and stopped shooting lead shot at waterfowl (eagles do a lot of hunting/scavenging around bodies of water), they've made a miraculous recovery. IF we managed eagles the same way we manage other species--which is by the overall health of the SPECIES, not the INDIVIDUAL ANIMAL--there wouldn't be any concern about eagles. Their numbers are not declining. Matter of fact, they're still increasing. Thus, from a wildlife science standpoint, we really shouldn't be concerned about the deaths of a few individual eagles, no matter the cause.
However, the public does not look at eagles that way. Concern about them stems from the facts that a) they are highly visible; and b) they're our national symbol. So, unfortunately, we can't just blow it all off by saying: "A few eagles more or less . . . what difference does it make?" The antis will always make hay out of anything they can. And unfortunately, they can use that attitude against us, very effectively--because it resonates with a lot of non-hunters. (And this country has WAY more non-hunters--on the fence/don't care about the issue one way or the other--than it has either hunters or antis. No need to help the antis draw more non-hunters to their side by showing a callous regard for dead eagles. It's just plain bad PR.
As for the situation in Wisconsin . . . Keith, the northern third or so of the state isn't much for farming. The rest of the state is a different story. Northern WI grows mostly trees, not cows. And SW WI does have old lead mines, and it does have dairy farms. So possible connection there? Sure. But that's a long ways from "Up North". Automotive paint chips in road-killed deer? It's my understanding they got the lead out of auto paint about a decade plus or so ago. So I guess maybe if it's an old car. As for other possible sources of lead . . . of course lead bullets aren't the only one. But we do kill a lot of deer in Wisconsin, and others get shot and go unrecovered. And there's no shortage of evidence that eagles will scavenge dead deer. For information on lead showing up in eagles, you can google eagles x rays lead poisoning. Evidence with which you can either agree . . . or not. You can say that the evidence is "agenda driven" . . . but then we're pretty "agenda driven" ourselves here, aren't we? I made a very strong case for retaining lead shot in a two-part article I wrote on the subject for Pointing Dog Journal a few years back, and I don't feel any differently now. But I included evidence from both sides, didn't start with the assumption that everyone who opposes lead is an anti. They're not . . . and Audubon certainly is not squarely in the anti-hunting camp. I can provide personal experience on that one, should anyone wonder.
Migration . . . no, eagles are still around during gun deer season in Wisconsin.
Last edited by L. Brown; 01/21/16 11:02 AM.
