Rfalconcam Forum

A plucky golden eagle who has survived despite being electrocuted, hit by a car, and poisoned is set to join the ranks of raptors at Woodland Park Zoo after April 1, 2010.

The regal bird's trials began in 2008, when he was brought to the Raptor House Rehabilitation Center in Yakima, Washington, with injuries to his wings and legs consistent with suffering electrical shock and collision with a car.

Blood tests revealed that the eagle was also afflicted with lead poisoning, which harms the nervous system and causes disorientation, lethargy, and muscle weakness. Lead also harms the kidneys and the digestive system. Without chelation therapy (which uses chemicals that bind with lead to help flush it from the body), a bird with lead poisoning will die.

The golden eagle, dubbed Ranger, was subsequently treated and rehabilitated at Raptor House. He arrived at Woodland Park Zoo this year and underwent a thorough medical exam on May 17 as part of his 30-day quarantine period. While anesthetized, the bird was weighed, measured, and X-rayed. Blood tests were performed as well.

Ranger's injuries, however, were so severe that he could not be rehabilitated for successful release into the wild. Instead, as a resident of the zoo's Raptor House, he will serve as an educational ambassador for his species and raptor conservation, including threats posed to these birds by lead poisoning.

Raptors accumulate lead in their bodies when they consume animals that have been killed by lead bullets or feed on offal ("gut piles") left behind after hunters field-dress deer and other game. Lead ammunition produces fragments and dust that are left behind in a carcass and end up in the tissues of the raptors that scavenge them.

Studies by the Peregrine Fund showed that on average, 56% of all bald eagles admitted to wildlife rehabilitators in Iowa had abnormal lead levels. Lead poisoning has also been found to be the leading cause of death in highly endangered California condors; lead ammunition is now banned within a designated California Condor Recovery Zone. Another study, the Fall Migrating Golden Eagle Lead Project, revealed that 50% of eagles tested showed high levels of lead in their blood. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, in conjunction with the zoo, also conducted a four-year study of golden eagles in Washington that showed increased lead levels in this species.

Lead ammunition has been banned for waterfowl hunting nationwide since 1991 to protect not only the animals that eat waterfowl, but also the waterfowl themselves (many, such as ducks, consumed lead shot as they fed on pond bottoms). But lead ammunition is still permitted for upland hunting on non-federal lands by most states .

In some states, proposals to phase out lead ammunition are moving forward (for example, California Assemblymember Pedro Nava's recent proposal to ban lead shot in state wildlife areas). Those opposed to phasing out lead usually point to the higher cost of bullets made from alternative metals; a minority link the issue to a supposed shadowy plot to put restrictions on gun rights or ban hunting altogether.

Yet a study by the Peregrine Fund found that respondents to a hunter ammunition survey were overwhelmingly in favor of phasing out lead (83.4%) and were satisfied with the performance of ammunition made from copper or other metals. In addition, the hunters were not only aware that lead fragments harmed wildlife but also that such contaminants harm people, too.

At this time, hunters can alleviate the potential for lead poisoning in raptors and other wild animals by removing carcasses and gut piles so that they can't be scavenged and by using shot made from copper, tungsten-alloy, or other materials. 

About Golden Eagles:

The golden eagle is a cosmopolitan raptor--it's found not only in North America but also in northern Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. In Washington, golden eagles primarily nest in the eastern part of the state in montane and shrub-steppe areas; a few pairs nest in western Washington.

Its main prey is small ground mammals, such as rabbits, though it will also snatch up snakes and lizards and can grab a bird in midair. Like the bald eagle, it will eagerly scavenge as well.

Ranger, who is approximately 5 years old, can look forward to a long and healthy life at the zoo. According to The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds, one captive golden eagle lived to the age of 46. One wild bird was known to survive for at least 30 years.