A Defra-funded study, involving BASC, WWT and the CLA, shows that most (344 out of 492, ie 70%) shot ducks bought from gamedealers, supermarkets and butchers are illegally shot with lead ammunition. This figure is similar to that found in 2002 in a study by WWT and the RSPB - there has been no real progress in the last eight years.
Quite shockingly, the survey of shooters indicated that most understood the law but nearly half (45%) admitted to breaking the law. At least this suggests that the 'honest' ones (the 45% who admit to acting illegally) are the best shots (if 70% of ducks have been shot illegally)!
The main reasons given for breaking the law are: small chance of being caught, don't believe that lead is a problem and lead-free ammunition is more expensive or more difficult to obtain than lead ammunition.
We await the reaction of shooting organisations and the shooting press with interest. Some shooting organisations have spent quite considerable time and effort communicating to their members on this issue - they must feel very let down.
We also await Defra's reaction. Minister of State Jim Paice is a keen shot and a former trustee of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust. Defra has just withdrawn its secretarial support from the Lead Ammunition Group that it and the Food Standards Agency set up to look at issues surrounding the (legal) use of lead ammunition concerning human and wildlife health.
A love of the natural world demonstrates that a person is a cultured inhabitant of planet Earth.
James, as Mark just pointed out, lots of things are naturally occurring but can be harmful when consumed – that’s why I don’t go around the countryside munching on hemlock or deathcap fungi! I eat a fair amount of shot game in the winter and the idea of lead fragments in my food has been a growing concern of mine for a couple of years. I find the fact that lead accumulates in the body particularly worrying. I think more people would embrace game if they weren’t worried about lead (I’ve heard several people new to game voice this to me)…and in turn that would help with PR and the future of shooting in general. If I plan to get pregnant I won’t be eating game shot with lead and I’m not sure I’d feed it to children either.
The fact that lead shot can also be detrimental to wildfowl and possibly to anything that might eat carrion peppered with shot…well it just doesn’t make the shooting community look good.
I’ve heard the excuse that non-lead shot is ‘three times more expensive than lead’ but then again a day’s driven shoot can cost hundreds or even thousands of pounds.
From a welfare point of view, the killing ability of non-lead shot is slightly concerning, I don’t know much about it though…however, I’ve seen plenty of birds that were just clipped or not killed outright with lead cartridges too – but that’s just how it is sometimes in shooting. Individual skill and luck could play as important a role as the type of metal used in cartridges, perhaps?
Incidentally, I also know of several commercial pheasant shoots in my area that have one or more duck drives, they are not on ponds but over rivers.