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 Defra has just withdrawn its secretarial support from the Lead Ammunition Group that it and the Food Standards Agency set up to look at issues surrounding the (legal) use of lead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.
The problem also lies in the fact that any lead shot remains in the environment for decades or perhaps many decades. The biggest problem is on wetlands where the waterfowl are sifting through the vegetation and ingesting this lead. A couple of years ago there were 4 or 5 whooper swans on Wigtown Bay nature Reserve that were unable to migrate back to Iceland to breed. They hung about most of the summer and then one by one died. The post mortem showed lead poisoning. There is one easy cure to the problem of lead being used in the environment and that is to ban the sale of lead shot cartridges and ban the use of any remaining cartridges containing lead. Any game birds killed with lead shot but not collected will be eaten by predators which will also ingest the lead and suffer lead poisoning