AR-News: (US-WA) Trumpeter Swans' Deaths Due to Lead Shot from Hunters

[jim robertson]

http://www.kirotv.com/news/2775248/detail.html

Trumpeter Swans' Deaths Pose Mystery To Researchers

POSTED: 7:43 AM PST January 19, 2004

BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- The winter storm that blew into Western Washington over 
the holidays forced many trumpeter swans to head south from Whatcom County, 
in search of farm fields that weren't covered in snow.

But some birds were too sick to make the trip, their blood poisoned by 
ingested lead shot that brings on gradual paralysis.

Volunteers Sue and Mike Murphy spent the past week looking for those swans, 
many of which have died. They had to chip some carcasses out of ice in local 
ponds.

"It's heartbreaking," said Sue Murphy, who operates Pilchuck Valley 
Wildlife, a bird rehabilitation center. "Who wants to see these birds frozen 
in ice because they were so weak they couldn't keep their legs moving?"

For five years, investigators have been tried unsuccessfully to pinpoint the 
source of lead shot that has killed nearly 1,000 swans in Whatcom County and 
north in British Columbia.

Washington state and Canada banned use of lead shot by hunters in waterfowl 
areas more than a decade ago, but much of it remains in the wild.

Trumpeter swans, the world's largest waterfowl, ingest gravel from wetlands 
to help grind food in their gizzards. If there's lead shot in the gravel, 
left over from waterfowl hunters, the birds take it in, too.

Just one piece of ingested lead shot can kill a trumpeter swan, but 
necropsies have found dozens, even hundreds of the pellets in their 
digestive tracts.

So far this season, at least 92 dead trumpeter swans have been found in 
Whatcom County and 17 in Skagit County. Last season, 180 dead swans were 
found in Whatcom County and Canada.

Despite the deaths, the trumpeter swan population continues to rise, said 
Mike Davison, a biologist with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Trumpeter swans rarely wintered in Whatcom County until about 10 years ago.

The population has rebounded from a low of just 66 in the United States in 
1933 to more than 20,000 in North America in 2000.

Now nearly 5,000 swans winter in southern British Columbia and northern 
Washington state, where they have expanded their range from Skagit County to 
Whatcom, Snohomish and San Juan counties. In Whatcom County, their numbers 
have grown from between 10 and 200 in the early 1990s to more than 1,000.

The lead-shot problem is not limited to swans. Scavenger birds and other 
animals -- eagles, hawks and coyotes -- that eat the dead birds are subject 
to secondary poisoning. That is one of the main reasons for the lead-shot 
ban in some areas.

The swan deaths have prompted a cooperative investigation into the source of 
the lead shot by Washington, U.S. and Canadian fish and wildlife agencies.

"We're looking for large quantities that we think are fairly obvious," said 
Rick McKelvey, manager of the Canadian Wildlife Service in Vancouver, 
British Columbia. "It's as if some new event happened on the landscape, like 
someone placed it out there in great quantity."

This year, with $55,000 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and another 
$30,000 from the Legislature, state Department of Fish and Wildlife 
scientists have put radio collars on nearly 100 birds.

That's been tried in the past, but some of the birds were already poisoned 
and, even after treatment, died before investigators found the shot.

As the season comes to an end, workers will begin tracking the collared 
birds' travels to find where they are foraging. If several of the birds die, 
investigators will try to discover whether all the dead ones used the same 
foraging areas.

Those locations would then be subject to lead testing, Davison said.

"We go to all this work and expense because we want the species to live 
forever," he said. But under the program, "our success is depending on these 
birds dying."

Capt. Bill Hebner of the state wildlife agency says his officers have also 
stepped up checks of waterfowl hunters for lead shot. They now fill out a 
detailed form in each case, with coordinates to identify where the illegal 
shot was used.

At least six tickets were given to Whatcom County hunters this season, he 
said. The violation is a misdemeanor and carries the possibility of a $100 
fine.
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press.




“The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.”    - 
Charles Darwin

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