Lead shot banned across the country

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Effective Sept. 1, the use of lead shot for the purpose of hunting all migratory game birds will be prohibited throughout Canada. This ban is carried out under a federal law called the Migratory Birds Convention Act.

The use of lead ammunition is one of the most significant sources of lead deposit in the environment.

This ban is designed to help to control the problem of lead poisoning of migratory waterfowl by cutting down the amount of lead entering the environment.

About 50- to 60-million waterfowl migrate to Canada each year and an estimated 250,000 die each year. According to Environment Canada, predatory birds, such as eagles, scavenging birds or animals suffer lead poisoning by consuming the lead that is in the tissue of the dead birds.

The amount of lead poison in some species is higher than in others. In recent years, about 15 per cent of bald eagles found dead in British Columbia and in the Prairie provinces were killed by lead poisoning. The eagles fed on birds that were shot with led-based shells.

"That is why conserving these birds is an important job," said Manitoba Wildlife Enforcement Co-ordinator Joe Buker. "We are trying to remove as many toxins from the environment and the birds as we possibly can," he said.

Canadian hunters shoot about 2,000 tonnes of lead shot each year into the environment. One tonne equals 1,000 kilograms. People using shotguns for hunting, skeet or trap shooting usually fire five or six shells for every bird or target that is hit. Only a few of the pellets actually hit the bird. The rest of more than 1,000 pellets fall to the ground or into the water. About 260 tonnes of lead shot falls to the ground each year around clay target shooting ranges or gun clubs alone.

"Even though birds do not hang around the areas of shooting ranges, it is still lead being deposited into the environment," said Saskatchewan Wildlife Enforcement Co-ordinator Randy Forsyth. "One heavily hunted area in Oakhammock, Man. had as many as two million pellets in the bottom of the lake," he said.

Waterfowl that dig in the bottom of lakes and ponds for their food are at the greatest risk. These birds include dabbling ducks. The species most commonly poisoned by lead are mallards and black ducks. Dabbling ducks such as mallards tip down in the water with their tails poking up while they are feeding. They probe the bottom of lakes and ponds for food items like seeds, mollusks, small snails, clams and insects. They may also mistake the pellets for grit, which is small stones they eat to help them grind up food in their gizzards.

In 1995, Sheila Copps, then the environment minister, started to implement the ban.

"This ban is not new. The hunters had close to four years to get ready for this," said Forsyth.

Seven other countries in the world, - Australia, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, United States, Denmark, and the Netherlands - are implementing the same regulations.

Environment Canada said it respects the hunting rights of First Nations people throughout Canada, and this ban should not impact those rights adversely.

"This is not an issue that is going to affect the Aboriginal communities in a negative way. It just means that everyone has to maintain the same ban to make it work," said Alberta's wildlife enforcement officer, Wayne Spencer. "The harmful affects of lead on waterfowl and their predators effects migratory birds no matter who the hunter is," he said.

Non-toxic alternatives have been developed for the public's use. The following six types of non-toxic shot have been approved for use in Canada: bismuth, steel, tin, tungsten-iron, tungsten matrix and tungsten polymer. It is important to pattern your gun with the load and shot size you plan to use for hunting.

"You just have to learn because the shells shoot a little differently and that is what we are saying," said Buker. "You do not have to go out and buy a new gun," he said.

"If you have some concerns regarding this, please contact a reutable gun smith," said Spencer. "Some of the new shots will be harder on the gun barrel, especially the steel and the tungsten," he said.