‘Long Overdue’ Lead Ammunition Ban Announced in the UK to Save Thousands of Birds

‘Long Overdue’ Lead Ammunition Ban Announced in the UK to Save Thousands of Birds

‘Long Overdue’ Lead Ammunition Ban Announced in the UK to Save Thousands of Birds – credit Derek Laliberte on Unsplash In a huge win for British water, birds, and communities, the UK environment ministry has announced a rapid phase out leading to a total ban on lead ammunition. Global health authorities agree unanimously that there is no safe level of lead exposure, and lead shotgun pellets and small-caliber ammunition are two of the most persistent poisons of bird life, particularly waterfowl. In 2008, the California government introduced a phase-out/ban of lead ammunition in the southern geographical range of the California condor, which helped reduced excess mortality from ingestion of lead by these scavengers. Though not scavengers, waterfowl are also at high risk of lead poisoning since they’re traditionally hunted with shotguns that fire clusters of lead pellets, called shot, and because these birds habitually ingest small stones as a digestive aid. They’ve been known to mistake shot…