Did Jane Goodall violate Federal law??

It's generally illegal in the US to possess raptor feathers. (Or "parts", as the law calls them.) But in this clip, the presenter displays a photo of Jane Goodall in possession of a condor feather. The last time I looked, Ms. Goodall wasn't an American Indian, and thus wouldn't be allowed to possess a raptor feather.

The speaker in this clip is Cindy Margulis of the Oakland Zoo...

On a side note, I gotta give Ms. Margulis props for a passionate, if illogical, presentation. Her assertions fly in the face of scientific data, and some of the sentences make no sense whatsoever, but she does an excellent job of presenting her point of view. The do-it-for-the-children argument she resorts to leaves me flat, but I'm sure that her audience ate it up.

Tony Canales on lead isotope ratios

No, the whole condor thing ain't over yet...

At the 10-12-2007 meeting of the California Fish and Game Commission, Tony refuted the argument that lead found in condors can only come from lead. He documents at least three other sources of environmental lead that matches the range of isotopic ratios found in the birds.



Ironically, one of the sources of lead that can explain the lead in the condors' blood is one of the first environmental issues addressed in California: Hydraulic mining. You fans of Pale Rider will remember that the LaHood mining operation in the film was a hydraulic mine. Hydraulic mining was banned in the State following complaints from farmers that the runoff was harming their fields. It turns out that the runoff is still having an effect on the environment.

It's not just about big game hunting

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is one of the groups pushing for a ban on lead ammo in CA. In this clip, NRDC lawyer James Birkelund makes it clear that this isn't just about big game hunting...

You heard that correctly. He's talking about banning the use of all lead ammo for any hunting purposes. Can plinking be far behind? (No one makes a non-lead .22 LR bullet, BTW.)

Condors, blood lead, and the hunting season

One of the claims made about condors and lead is that their blood lead levels peak during the deer season. However, as Tony points out in this clip, pig hunting goes on year 'round in "condor country". Also there's evidence of a second, off-season peak in spring.

As I've said before, we reject a hypothesis if it can be shown to be false in an experiment.

Yet more on condors and lead

Anthony Canales addresses all-copper bullets in this clip...

These bullets are currently more expensive than good ol' lead; a lot more expensive. They may also be regarded as "armor piercing" by law enforcement.

Lead and condors: The isotopic evidence

In the following clip, Dr. Saba addresses the isotopic evidence presented before the commission. The isotopic data was alleged to show that the lead levels in condors not only increase in the wild, but that the isotopic ratios change from what they are in captivity to a ratio indicative of bullet lead.

(A quick primer on isotopic ratios: Lead occurs in several different isotopes. An isotope of an element is an atom of that element with one or more extra (or missing) neutrons. Some isotopes are unstable and break down via radiation. Lead has several stable isotopes. The ratios of these isotopes to one another can act as a fingerprint to distinguish one source of lead from another. Isotopic ratios are measured with a device called a mass spectrometer. This device separates the isotopes according to their mass.)

As Dr. Saba shows, the analysis of the isotopic ratios is seriously flawed. The researchers limited their sample to two bullet brands: Remington and Winchester. Dr. Saba found many different brands available in "condor country"; all with wildly different isotopic ratios. The result is that the condors' lead ratios should have dispersed, rather than coalesced around a single value, if bullets were really the source of lead in their diet.

This is damning evidence. In science we reject a hypothesis if we can devise an experiment that contradicts the predictions of the hypothesis. The condor/bullet hypothesis predicts that the lead found in condors will become more like that of bullets as time passes. The isotopic ratios of lead in bullets varies broadly. If the condors were getting lead from bullets, the lead in their blood would also vary broadly. It does not. It approaches a single value. Bullets cannot be the sole source, or even a major source, of lead in the condors' diet. Something else is poisoning these birds.

"Non-biased" data?

Eric Brunnemann is the superintendent at Pinnacles National Monument. In this clip, you'll hear him say that it's his job to provide "the best non-biased possible scientific data available" on condors at that facility. But how non-biased can he be when he refers to the birds as "my flock"?

As I see it, there are two jobs Mr. Brunnemann could be doing with regard to condors: He can be an advocate for the birds and thus feel somewhat proprietary about them; or, he can be a disinterested observer providing unbiased data. He can't be both, however. I suspect that he's really doing the first job and God bless him for that. But, that means that the "data" he presents here must be seen as opinion.

More with the CA Fish & Game commission

Here is a clip of Dr. Don Saba addressing the commission. Dr. Saba also addresses the issue of junk ingestion by condors; specifically, the toxic effects of other metals they may eat, including zinc in galvanized metals.

These two clips are from the commission's morning session. More clips will follow later.

CA Fish and Game Commission meets on condors and lead

On 8/27, the CA Fish and Game commission met in Sacramento to discuss, amongst other things, a proposed ban on lead ammunition in "Condor Country". The proposed regulation would require the use of all-copper bullets in the affected areas. The Commission is considering the ban under the theory that the birds are ingesting lead from gut piles left by hunters and shot animals lost by hunters. Even if one were to accept these ideas as a way for lead to enter the birds' digestive systems, the condor recovery projects in the State are failing to recognize far greater threats to the birds than the odd bullet fragment.

In this clip, Anthony Canales, the President of this Members' Council, addresses one of these threats to the California Condor: Rubbish Ingestion.



OK... For the non-gun nuts in the audience, why am I questioning the notion that condors could ingest lead from gut piles and lost animals? First off, most hunters use copper- jacketed bullets; not solid lead. Secondly, for a bullet to get into a gut pile, the animal must have been shot in the gut. That, of course, could happen. However, if that happens, the bullet won't strike bone on the way in and thus won't fragment exposing the lead inside. Mr. Condor, in that case, would end up dining on the copper jacket rather than the lead.

For more on the issue, read Tony's latest post on the NRAMembersCouncils.com website.

We have some more clips from the 8/27 CFG meeting. Those will be uploaded soon.

AB 821 update

AB 821, which would ban all but "non-lead" ammunition for big game and coyote hunting in a large chunk of the State, has been passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee and is now on the Senate floor.

"Why are they doing this?" you ask? To save the Condors from lead that they don't eat. Scratching your head? The theory is that the big, ugly, Pleistocene birdies eat bullet fragments they find in gutpiles and in lost game animals. The theory, however, doesn't jive with the facts. Condors eat all kinds of strange crap. Bottle caps? Yummy! Lead wheel weights? Delish!! Broken glass? Always a fine finish to a large meal! And then wash it all down with a nice spot of used motor oil.

Lead bits from the odd gutpile are the least of their problems. (The big one is that the last ice age ended. It's been kinda downhill from there for them.)

For more info, see the NRAMembersCouncils.com AB 821 information page.

As for the larger issue of lead and condors, stay tuned to this site for more info.

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