It just never stops!
I didn’t want to post another Lead Ban Chronicle so soon, but this article just about slipped by me from yesterday’s paper… it’s definitely worth a read to anyone concerned about the condor issue or the lead ammo ban. I’d also urge you to use the comment form following the article to post your comments and add your voices to calls for reason and responsibility in reporting this issue (you’ll see mine as Elwing1).
Looks like seven condors have turned up with lead poisoning, and the press (along with some condor/environmental groups) seems eager to blame hunters… particularly hunters at Tejon Ranch. Look at the way this paragraph is phrased!
While officials won’t know the source of the contamination until next week, Grantham said the birds were likely poisoned by eating tainted carcasses at Bitter Creek, Lake Piru or on Tejon Ranch. Of the three areas, only Tejon Ranch currently allows hunting.
So, really, what they’re suggesting is that Tejon is the ONLY place this could have happened, and therefore Tejon hunters MUST be the culprits?
Now I don’t know the science here, but how long would it take for the birds to show the effects of eating lead-tainted carrion? Tejon Ranch banned the use of lead for any hunting, beginning the first of January, so no lead ammo has legally been used there for almost six months. I also know that there’s not a lot of big game hunting at Tejon in December, so there wouldn’t have been a lot of carcasses lying around the place then… at least not carcasses killed by hunters.
It sounds to me like someone has Tejon Ranch bent over a barrel and is now taking advantage of the position. Remember, Tejon has taken a lot of pressure over plans to develop a large section of the property. They’re also one of the largest and best-known hunting programs in the country, which makes them an easy target for organizations with an anti-hunting agenda. Finally, they’re one of the largest privately-owned properties in the current California condor range. To say the Ranch sports a big bullseye for special-interest groups is an understatement.
I’m also interested in knowing how the Fish and Wildlife Service will have conclusive information over the source of the contamination in just a week. Are they relying on the controversial “isotope” testing process? How will they determine the geographic location of the lead source, even if they can determine that the lead is from bullets?
What more, beyond banning lead ammo, does anyone expect hunters to do to protect the condor? Keep in mind that this very public statement is being made less than one month before the “Condor Preservation Act” comes into effect, with the lead ban becoming effective throughout the condor zone on July 1.
And here’s a really big question… if the contamination is determined to have nothing to do with hunters, bullets, or Tejon Ranch, will any public announcement be made? The accusation made in the AP article sure makes hunters and Tejon look like the bad guys here… scars on our reputation that we definitely don’t need right now.
There are many more questions than answers here, and it’s hard to trust our sources when the media runs headlines based on pure speculation and poorly-researched information (the first paragraph states that the lead ban is statewide, as opposed to limited to the “historic condor range”).
There’s too much political bullshit going on here, and too many agendas being advanced. The public deserves better, even if hunters don’t.