About dead or ill swans...

[LadyFisher]

WDFW NEWS RELEASE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
http://wdfw.wa.gov/
November 17, 2009
Contact: Jennifer Bohannon, (360) 466-4345 ext. 281

Hotline to report dead or ill swans available

OLYMPIA - In a continuing effort to monitor trumpeter swans that have succumbed to lead poisoning, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has re-established a hotline to report dead or ill swans in Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish counties.
People can call (360) 466-4345, ext. 266, to report dead or sick swans. Callers should be prepared to leave a message including their name and phone number, and the location and condition of the swans. The hotline is available 24 hours a day through the end of March.
Some trumpeter swans in Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish counties, and in southwestern British Columbia, die each winter from lead poisoning after ingesting lead shot in areas where they feed.
Lead shot has been banned for waterfowl hunting in Washington and British Columbia for more than a decade, but biologists believe swans are likely reaching shallow underwater areas in fields and roosts where spent lead shot is still present.
People who see sick or dead swans are advised not to handle or attempt to move the birds, said Jennifer Bohannon, WDFW wildlife biologist. WDFW and Puget Sound Energy employees, as well as volunteers from the Washington Waterfowl Association and the Trumpeter Swan Society, will pick up the birds, she said.
The collected swans also will be among the thousands of wild birds WDFW is testing for avian influenza.
Since 2001, WDFW and other agencies and organizations have been working to locate sources of toxic lead and remove it from the environment.
For the past three years, hazing crews have worked to scare swans away from Judson Lake, a source of lead poisoning on the U.S.-Canada border in Whatcom County. During that effort, the average number of lead-related swan mortalities significantly dropped to 67 a year, about 70 percent less than the previous five-year average, said Bohannon.
This year, biologists have placed bamboo poles and plastic fences in portions of the lake to keep birds from landing or swimming in areas with concentrations of lead shot. Swans that do access those areas will be hazed from the lake, said Bohannon.

[Kerry Stratton]

I am curioius. I have seen a couple of dead swans in the past in the fields of Skagit County being fed upon by eagles and I once watched as an eagle dispatched what was likely an old or sick swan (very interesting to witness). If these swans were sick from or died from lead poisoning does the lead pass on to a predator that may feed on them?

[Mike Thomas]

I once had a talk with a wildlife biologist in the Waikato that went something like this:

Biologist. "80 percent of the dead ducks colected from a pond had lead in there system and had died of lead poisoning"

Me. "Really, did you test them for anything else?"

Biologist. "no... why would we?"

Me. " well maybe some of those 80 percent had lead in there system but died of something else, like old age, Bird flu, Blue-Green algae, etc. did you check for that?"

Biologist. "Erm... well no the study was to find lead."

Me. "Silly study then"

Enough said I think.

I am not suggesting this is the case in this study, but I would check all the facts before relying on any study carried out by todays so-called scientists including who is paying for the study and what they want the study to find! Maybe I am just a cynic.
All the best.
Mike.

[kbproctor]

If these swans were sick from or died from lead poisoning does the lead pass on to a predator that may feed on them?

I believe the answer would be, "Yes." Since the lead stays in the tissue, it would be consumed by the predator and stay in the predator's tissues. So, don't eat any of those eagles.

[sagefisher]

Mike,

You are not being cynical. Anytime someone kicks out with statistics from a study they often make those stats fit their needs. That is one of the problems of statistics, it all depends upon what questions were asked or situations were studied.

Larry ---sagefisher---

[maodiver]

try this sometime...

go out to your nearest swampy (excuse me WETLANDS) area. Collect a water glass 3/4 full of mud from the bottom of the watered down area (or anywhere else). Take it home and put it on your counter. Fill the glass with water. Put 1 or more size 4 through T (common duck and goose loads) shot pellets on the surface of the mud under the water.

keep the glass filled at all times with water.

Now shake the glass slightly every few weeks, to simulate the movement of water and graund shake.

After 18 years (lead shot was banned in the US over waterfowl areas in 1991) check to see where the lead shot rests in the glass.

IF THE GLASS HAD BEEN DEEPER, IT WOULD HAVE GONE DOWN FURTHER!!

The life span of a trumpeter swan is about 20+ years. These animals which are dying could not have injested lead recently, and may, IMHO, be dying from long-ago lead. BUT THEY COULD NOT BE GETTING NEW LEAD INTO THEIR SYSTEM, AS IT WOULD HAVE SUNK TOO DEEP IN THE MUD TO GET INTO THE FOOD SUPPLY!

Most waterfowl feed over plowed land, and roost? in wetlands. Neither environment is conducive to keeping lead far enough up in the food column to be accidentally ingested.

They are just as likely to have ingested lead/mercury/selenium/cadmium from environmental sources from years of mining activity in the flyway. That cat's out of the bag, and I don't know how we can fix it...but I can't believe it is the lead shot anymore. PETA would like us to think it is.

MAO

[kbproctor]

PETA? People Eating Tasty Animals? That PETA?

[redietz]

Bird loads are not the only way lead gets into the water. Lead split shot is still legal in many places. I know I've left my share of it on bottoms streams.

[sagefisher]

The only way to be sure of why they are dying is to treat them like people, meaning send them to a forensic pathologist that specializes in wild animals and do a full autopsy along with a full blood and tissue work up. That is what we do to people who are found dead. If you want an honest answer as to the cause of death of swans that is how you have to do it.

Anything else is just half done and incomplete.

Larry ---sagefisher---

[maodiver]

but half done and incomplete is the way they like it. that way the blame can be spread thicker over a smaller area.

Lead sinkers were not referenced in the article...lead SHOT was. Lead sinkers are/will be next...and I just don't like the way tin shot feels on the line