Poisonous gun pellets killed lake flamingos (Shooting Range to be Shut Down!)

Kathimerini - The English Greek Newspaper ^ | FR Post 13 FEB 2003 | Editorial Staff

[vannrox]

Poisonous gun pellets killed lake flamingos

LARNACA (AP) - Cyprus yesterday said it is trying to prevent more deaths of migratory flamingos after dozens of the birds died from eating shotgun pellets.

Environment Minister Costas Themistocleous said at least 40 flamingos, which have made the Larnaca Salt Lake their home for the winter, were found dead this week. He said a nearby shooting range will be closed as the birds were found to have died from lead poisoning caused by swallowing shotgun pellets fired into the lake.

“An operation has started to try to remove the flamingos from the dangerous area of the lake nearest the shooting range,” Themistocleous said. Klitos Andreou, director of Cypriot Veterinary Services, said hundreds of pellets were found in the stomachs of some of the dead birds, which probably ate the pellets while eating shrimp from the lake’s bottom. He said six pellets can cause fatal poisoning.

[vannrox]

Hum.

[AntiGuv]

[BenLurkin]

IIRC steel shot is widely sold. The range could require their use much as an indoor pistol range requires fully jacketed rounds.

[and the horse you rode in on]

The US has banned lead shot for waterfowling for years for just this reason. There is steel, tungsten and bismuth shot available as a replacement.

[coloradan]

However, steel, bronze and tungsten-cored handgun ammunition is banned because it is "cop-killer". Nevertheless some non-bird-area ranges are threatened because of lead poisoning.

[and the horse you rode in on]

However, steel, bronze and tungsten-cored handgun ammunition is banned because it is "cop-killer". Nevertheless some non-bird-area ranges are threatened because of lead poisoning.

True. That is stupid, but most ranges banned those long before the government did because they are too hard on backstops. If you need a lead free pistol ammo it is around, starting with the goood old Remington Nylok, in which the lead is completely enclosed in nylon.