ArticlePloS one2014
High risk of lead contamination for scavengers in an area with high moose hunting success.
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 60 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Lead exposure in consumers of culled invasive alien mammals in El Palmar National Park, Argentina.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2021Article
- Biomonitoring of Toxic Metals in Feathers of Birds from North-Eastern Pakistan.Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology · 2021Article
- High Frequency of Lead Exposure in the Population of an Endangered Australian Top Predator, the Tasmanian Wedge-Tailed Eagle (Aquila audax fleayi).Environmental toxicology and chemistry · 2021Article
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- Biomonitoring of toxic metals in feathers of predatory birds from eastern regions of Hungary.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2019Article
- Assessment of the LeadCare® Plus for Use on Scandinavian Brown BearsFrontiers in veterinary science · 2019Article
- Heavy-metal concentrations in feathers of cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus L.) as an endangered species in Turkey.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2019Article
- Hunting, Sale, and Consumption of Bushmeat Killed by Lead-Based Ammunition in Benin.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Article
- Scavenging on a pulsed resource: quality matters for corvids but density for mammals.BMC ecology · 2017Article
- Article
- Brains of Native and Alien Mesocarnivores in Biomonitoring of Toxic Metals in Europe.PloS one · 2016Article
- Taxonomy and distribution of freshwater pearl mussels (Unionoida: Margaritiferidae) of the Russian Far East.PloS one · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Top predators and scavengers are vulnerable to pollutants, particularly those accumulated along the food chain. Lead accumulation can induce severe disorders and alter survival both in mammals (including humans) and in birds. A potential source of lead poisoning in wild animals, and especially in scavengers, results from the consumption of ammunition residues in the tissues of big game killed by hunters. For two consecutive years we quantified the level lead exposure in individuals of a sentinel scavenger species, the common raven (Corvus corax), captured during the moose (Alces alces) hunting season in eastern Quebec, Canada. The source of the lead contamination was also determined using stable isotope analyses. Finally, we identified the different scavenger species that could potentially be exposed to lead by installing automatic cameras targeting moose gut piles. Blood lead concentration in ravens increased over time, indicating lead accumulation over the moose-hunting season. Using a contamination threshold of 100 µg x L(-1), more than 50% of individuals were lead-contaminated during the moose hunting period. Lead concentration was twice as high in one year compared to the other, matching the number of rifle-shot moose in the area. Non-contaminated birds exhibited no ammunition isotope signatures. The isotope signature of the lead detected in contaminated ravens tended towards the signature from lead ammunition. We also found that black bears (Ursus americanus), golden eagles and bald eagles (Aquila chrysaetos and Haliaeetus leucocephalus, two species of conservation concern) scavenged heavily on moose viscera left by hunters. Our unequivocal results agree with other studies and further motivate the use of non-toxic ammunition for big game hunting.
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