Photo: Iowa Bird Rehabilitation
(Des Moines, IA) -- Three bald eagles suffering from lead poisoning were taken to Iowa Bird Rehabilitation in the same afternoon earlier this week.
On Sunday, the first of the three was reported along the Des Moines River near the spillway to the Saylorville Dam. A Polk County Sheriff's Deputy, a volunteer from Iowa Bird Rehabilitation (IBR), and a kayaker were able to rescue eagle and take it to the IBR facility. While the first eagle was on the way to the facility, IBR received a call from a conservation officer in Marion County who was on his way with a bald eagle found on private property south of Lake Red Rock. That same officer later returned after receiving another call from near Lake Red Rock of a third bald eagle acting strangely.
IBR ran blood tests on all three eagles, and the results surprised staffers. Jenni Boonjakuakul with IBR says:
"We immediately drew blood from all three eagles and immediately tested it, and all three came back as high, which on our machine was too high for the machine to even detect."
One of the eagles died overnight the first night, but the other two were taken to the Saving Our Avian Resources, or SOAR, facility, which specializes in caring for raptors. So far, the other two eagles are recovering and still being treated for lead poisoning.
Boonjakuakul says there are two main ways bald eagles are typically exposed to lead:
"For eagles, they're scavengers, they love to eat deer carcasses, so after a deer hunt, the pellets that are in that deer...the eagles are consuming. One other way is fishing. Sinkers are often made of lead, so that's another place that....eagles can get lead poisoning."
Boonjakuakul says lead ammunition was banned for water fowl hunting in 1993, but the lead that was used in that ammunition does not degrade, so many bodies of water still have high lead levels as a result. She says once a bird consumes any kind of lead, it can take up to two weeks for the symptoms to begin. The most obvious symptom is that the bird does not fly away when approached. Birds suffering from lead poisoning act lethargic and often have their wings drooping due to exhaustion.
Boonjakuakul says if you see a bird that appears injured or lethargic, you can report the bird to Iowa Bird Rehabilitation through its website, Facebook page, or by calling (515)207-5008. More information on lead-free hunting and fishing is available at the Save Our Avian Resources, or SOAR, website.