Hunting with Lead Ammunition: A One Health Perspective

Arnemo, Jon M.; Fuchs, Boris; Sonne, Christian; Stokke, Sigbjørn

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-87853-5_21

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…hunters, their families and associates, and children. From a One Health perspective (Arnemo et al, 2022 ), these health impacts should be considered in addition to those imposed on wildlife scavengers that ingest lead from the discarded carcasses of the animals harvested for human consumption (Hampton et al, 2022d ). The issue of harmful lead exposure in Australian consumers of wildlife meat deserves further scientific scrutiny.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lead contamination in Australian game meat

Hampton

Pain

Buenz

et al. 2023

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Lead-based ammunition (gunshot and bullets) frequently leaves small lead fragments embedded in the meat of wild-shot game animals. Australia produces several commercial game meat products from wild animals harvested with lead-based ammunition and has a growing population of recreational hunters. However, no studies have previously investigated the frequency of lead fragments or lead concentrations in Australian game meat. We examined 133 Australian minced game meat items of four types for evidence of lead contamination. Samples were meat from kangaroos (Macropus and Osphranter spp.; n=36) and Bennett’s wallabies (Notamacropus rufogriseus; n=28) sold for human consumption, and deer (‘venison’; multiple spp.; n=32) and stubble quail (Coturnix pectoralis; n=37) harvested for private consumption by recreational hunters. All packages were studied by digital radiography to detect the presence of radio-dense fragments, assumed to be lead fragments from ammunition. Visible fragments were absent in commercially available kangaroo products, but were present in 4%, 28% and 35% of wallaby, venison and quail, respectively. Mean meat lead concentrations (mg/kg wet weight) were 0.01 ± 0.01 for kangaroo, 0.02 ± 0.01 for wallaby, 0.12 ± 0.07 for venison, and 1.76 ± 3.76 for quail. The Australian food standards threshold for livestock meat (0.1 mg/kg w.w.) was not exceeded by any kangaroo or wallaby products but was exceeded by 53% and 86% of venison and quail, respectively. Radiography only detected 35% of samples that were above the food safety threshold. While average lead concentrations in commercially available macropod (kangaroo and wallaby) meat were low, those in recreationally harvested game meat may pose health risks for hunters and associated consumers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lead contamination in Australian game meat

Hampton

Pain

Buenz

et al. 2023

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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“…1 XRF: X-ray fluorescence 2 DFTD: Devil facial tumour disease 3 Lead is a widely studied heavy metal with many well-known toxic effects. Contemporary research has implicated lead-based ammunition as a major source of anthropogenic environmental lead around the world (Arnemo et al, 2022;Sonne et al, 2023), which is a threat to scavenging wildlife (Plaza and Lambertucci, 2019). Many scavenging species, particularly avian species, have been found with elevated lead exposure levels from leadbased ammunition (Pain et al, 2019), which can cause both lethal and sublethal effects, such as altered behavior (Ecke et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Portable X-ray Fluorescence for Measuring Lead in the Hair of Wild Mammals

Jones¹,

Bengsen

Specht

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Lead (Pb) toxicity is a threat to scavenging wildlife across the globe. To allow inexpensive measurement of long-term lead exposure from archived wildlife tissues, portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) devices have been optimized to measure lead concentrations in bone samples from avian species. In this study, we assessed portable XRF for hair lead measurement in an Australian mammalian scavenger, the threatened Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii). We attempted to first validate the method by analysing relatively large (~1.0 g) hair samples from 39 deceased animals initially with XRF, and then with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) (validation study). We then measured lead concentrations via XRF only in a further 61 hair samples taken from live devils trapped in a plantation forestry landscape, where devils may scavenge on browsing marsupials that are regularly culled using lead ammunition (plantation study). Portable XRF hair lead measurement demonstrated a positive correlation with ICP-MS results (R2 = 0.95), although the relationship was weak at low lead concentrations. In the validation study, 95% of sampled Tasmanian devils had relatively low lead levels (≤ 3 mg/kg), but the remaining two animals showed considerably elevated lead levels (> 15 mg/kg), suggesting that harmful long-term lead exposure can occur in this species. In the plantation study, lead levels were comparable to those found in the hair of mammals in other studies, though a higher proportion (11%) of devils showed levels > 3 mg/kg than in the validation study, suggesting devils may have higher exposure to lead in a landscape subjected to regular culling of browsing mammals. Our results suggests that portable XRF is a promising emerging technology, and after some refinement, may allow non-invasive real-time measurement of lead concentrations in the hair of mammals.

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“…A nthropogenic lead is a pollutant that is toxic to nearly all lifeadversely affecting humans, animals and plantsconstituting a 'One Health' problem (Pokras & Kneeland 2008;Arnemo et al 2022). There is growing worldwide recognition of the risks posed by lead-based ammunition as an ongoing source of environmental lead pollution (Arnemo et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Highlighting the risk of environmental lead contamination for deer management in Australia

Hampton,

Flesch,

Wendt

et al. 2023

Eco Management Restoration

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SummaryLead‐based bullets used to shoot deer typically fragment. These toxic fragments are a threat to wildlife scavengers and human consumers of venison. Awareness of this issue is widespread internationally but limited in Australia. The aim of this research was to characterise deer carcass contamination via bullet fragmentation associated with lead‐based and lead‐free ammunition in a deer culling program conducted in Australia. We used radiography (X‐rays) to study Hog Deer (Axis porcinus) shot in a professional ground‐based shooting program in Victoria, south‐eastern Australia. Our data captured 33 deer shot with frangible lead‐based bullets in 2021, and 21 deer shot with monolithic lead‐free (copper‐based) bullets from the same rifles in 2021–2022. For lead‐based bullets, the mean number of lead fragments per carcass ranged from seven to 629 (mean ± SD = 256 ± 169), mean fragment size was 1.2 mm2 (74% of fragments were <1.0 mm2) and the mean fragment coverage area (the smallest ellipse covering all fragments) was 325 cm2. Of these deer, 36% had metallic fragments in the ‘back strap’ (loin) muscles and 42% had metallic fragments in the shoulder muscles: meat cuts typically removed for human consumption. In contrast, for lead‐free bullets, the mean number of metallic fragments per carcass ranged from zero to four (0.5 ± 1.0), with only 29% of carcasses having any fragments, and no deer had metallic fragments in the loin or shoulder muscles. On the basis of these results, it is clear that lead‐based bullets used for shooting deer in Australia pose risks to wildlife scavengers, and to human consumers when used in hunting. Australian wildlife managers involved in mitigating deer impacts should strongly consider a timely transition to lead‐free bullets.

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Hunting with Lead Ammunition: A One Health Perspective

Cited by 7 publications

References 97 publications

Lead contamination in Australian game meat

Lead contamination in Australian game meat

Portable X-ray Fluorescence for Measuring Lead in the Hair of Wild Mammals

Highlighting the risk of environmental lead contamination for deer management in Australia

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