I was under the impression that the lead poisoning is from fishing lead weights, which remain in the fish and then the fish are caught and consumed by the eagles. Fish are the preferred diet of Eagles.
Only time I ever saw lead weights inside a fish was when some Alpha Hotel was trying to beat the scale and I’ve been fishing for 70 years. I’ve spent about five years working on head boats and a couple of years doing commercial pin hooking in the NY Bight. Seventeen of the last twenty years have been spent solely in freshwater with the same results...even with catfish.
The problem with lead shot for waterfowl comes when ducks and geese ingest pebbles to aid digestion. The lead shot may be mixed in with the stones. Exactly how big a problem that is, I have no idea. I’ll gladly leave that determination to others more knowledgeable than I.
“I was under the impression that the lead poisoning is from fishing lead weights, which remain in the fish and then the fish are caught and consumed by the eagles.”
That is liberal BS too! Fish don’t eat lead weights, and for the most part, ducks don’t eat lead shot.