In October, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized a rule to ban the use of lead ammunition in the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia and Maryland — and to ban lead ammo and tackle in six other refuges on the East Coast — by 2026.

While lead ammunition remains legal for hunting in other parts of the state, wildlife experts want hunters to be aware of the potential unintended consequences of its use. 

Early muzzleloader deer hunting season started Nov. 4 in the Shenandoah Valley. 

Traditionally, hunters use lead ammunition, but decades worth of research indicates that it is deadly to eagles and other scavenger animals who commonly consume animal remains or “gut piles” left in the woods after hunters remove the internal organs of the deer or other game animals. 

Dr. Jen Riley, hospital director at Blue Ridge Wildlife Center in Boyce, said that at her facility about 90 percent of admitted eagles, and other scavengers like vultures and Virginia opossums, have lead in their system from ingesting deer that have been killed by lead bullets. BRWC encourages hunters to use 100 percent copper bullets for deer hunting as they are safe for wildlife down the food chain, she said. 

“Most [eagles] come in as ‘hit by cars’ but they have high lead. When they’re on lead, it’s basically like being on alcohol or drugs. They make poor decisions. They get in the roadways and can’t get out. That’s when they get hit. So it’s not that they’re getting hit by cars and have high lead, it’s that they have high lead and get hit by cars,” Riley explained earlier this year. 

According to the Wildlife Center of Virginia, located in Waynesboro, lead toxicosis is a frequent cause of admission for bald eagles at their facility as well. 

“Each year, dozens of eagles are admitted with lead toxicity; vultures also often have significant levels of lead in their bloodstream. Occasionally, other birds of prey such as owls and hawks are admitted with lead toxicity. Few birds with high levels of lead make a complete recovery,” the Center notes on its website. 

Studies show that when shot with lead ammunition, game animals can contain very small pieces of lead, which fragment upon impact, lodging as far as 18 inches away from the main wound channel. Eagles and other animals also consume lead when nuisance animals like groundhogs are shot and left to decay. 

When consumed, a fragment of lead the size of a grain of rice is enough to kill an eagle, explained Jeff Cooper, a wildlife biologist with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources. 

“We do see an uptick in lead toxicosis during hunting season and post hunting season,” said Cooper, pointing to research by Vincent Slabe, wildlife biologist at the nonprofit Conservation Science Global, and Todd Katzner, conservation ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, that explored the scope of the issue nationwide in an 8-year study.

Highlighted in a 2022 article in “Science,” the pair investigated the lead exposure of 1210 bald and golden eagles from 38 states across North America, including 620 live eagles. Researchers  “detected unexpectedly high frequencies of lead poisoning of eagles,” and noted that the frequency of lead poisoning was influenced by age and, for bald eagles, by region and season. 

“Continent-wide demographic modeling suggests that poisoning at this level suppresses population growth rates for bald eagles by 3.8 percent and for golden eagles by 0.8 percent, the report said. “Lead poisoning is an under appreciated but important constraint on continent-wide populations of these iconic protected species.”

Over the last 10 years, the Wildlife Center of Virginia has tested the blood lead levels of more than 360 Bald Eagles that were admitted as patients and reported that, 271, almost 75 percent, have had measurable levels of lead in their blood. Of those tested, 26 percent have had lead levels that are considered “elevated.” 

“The survival rate of the Bald Eagles we’ve treated with elevated levels is 5 percent,” the website says, noting that no level of lead is safe. 

Other raptors, including various species of hawks and owls, also test positive for lead in their system, the Center reports, adding that of the 337 other raptors tested for lead in the past 10 years, one in three had measurable levels of lead exposure. 

Like the BRWC, the Wildlife Center of Virginia urges hunters to use non-lead ammunition. According to the Wildlife Center, the issue of lead poisoning of eagles and other birds of prey could be almost entirely eliminated if hunters make that change and/or recover and properly dispose of animal carcasses or parts which may contain lead fragments. 

The National Rifle Association is opposed to the new ban on lead ammunition in wildlife refuges, saying that the new rule makes hunting more difficult and expensive for hunters. According to the group, non-lead ammo can be 25 percent more expensive than traditional lead varieties. 

While acknowledging that lead is damaging to individual animals, the group claims that it does not impact animal populations.