<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/15/ban-on-hunting-birds-with-lead-shot-in-eu-wetlands-hailed-as-huge-milestone-aoe>
"Shooting birds using lead shot will be banned in all wetlands in the European
Union from this week.
The law will apply to all 27 EU countries, as well as Iceland, Norway and
Liechtenstein. An estimated one million waterbirds die of lead poisoning in the
EU every year.
Under the ban adopted by the European Commission from 16 February, shooters
will have to use non-toxic ammunition such as steel, bismuth or other non-toxic
metals in or within 100 metres of wetlands.
The move has been welcomed by campaigners. “This is huge,” said Barbara
Herrero, senior EU nature policy officer at BirdLife Europe. “Despite banning
lead from paint, pencils and virtually everything else several decades ago, it
was still allowed to poison our shared environment – even when alternatives
exist.
“With this ban, the EU has addressed a significant part of the problem. We now
call on EU countries to make sure the ban is enforced.”
In the EU, 44,000 tonnes of lead ends up in the environment every year; 57%
from sports shooting, 32% from hunting, and 11% from fishing.
Waterbirds are believed to eat the shot, mistaking it for food or grit, which
they need to help digest food. Scavengers and predatory birds are poisoned by
eating lead shot in their prey. Birds that have ingested lead are often
weakened due to the release of dangerous toxins and are more likely to be
targeted by predators, which in turn spreads the contamination through the
ecosystem."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/goodnews-water-vietnam-stunting-indonesia-conservation-ecuador/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
