Effects of Lead
In 1996 the Arizona Game and Fish Department joined in a partnership to reintroduce North America’s largest flying scavenger, the condor, into northern Arizona. While the negative effects of lead in its various forms have been documented for decades, it wasn’t until data collected from monitoring and tracking the population at an individual level that we were able to see to what extent lead poisoning occurred in scavenging wildlife.
Because of the amount of tracking on condors, we are able to study them at a deeper level than other Arizona species.
From this, we discovered that death and sickness from lead poisoning plays a huge role in their survival. 54% of the known cause of death in condors is lead poisoning.
Over two decades of continuous condor research and tracking helped us better understand annual patterns of increased exposure and risk, not only to condors, but to all scavenging wildlife. The good news is that it is preventable.
Here’s how it works…