Namibian Wildlife Lead (Pb) Poisoning Working Group

2024 MEFT Lead Awareness Workshop

00 MEFT Lead Awareness Agenda 27-28 February 2024

MEFT Lead Awareness Agenda 27-28 February 2024

01 Overview & Expected Workshop Outcomes - Kenneth Uiseb

1 Overview & Expected Workshop Outcomes - Kenneth Uiseb

02 History of the Namibian Wildlife Lead (Pb) Poisoning Working Group - Chris Brown

History of the Namibian Wildlife Lead (Pb) Poisoning Working Group

03 Lead exposure in vultures Botswana - Raptors Botswana

3 Lead exposure in vultures Botswana - Raptors Botswana

04 Lead poisoning in South Africa’s Cape and White-backed Vultures - Linda van den Heever

04 Lead poisoning in South Africa’s Cape and White-backed Vultures - Linda van den Heever

05 The BirdLife Partnership and its work on Vultures - Lovelater Sebele

5 The BirdLife Partnership and its work on Vultures - Lovelater Sebele

06 Vultures Namibia - Holger Kolberg

6 Vultures Namibia - Holger Kolberg

07 Ground hornbills - the canary in the coalmine for lead toxicosis - Lucy Kemp & Katja Koeppel

7 Ground hornbills - the canary in the coalmine for lead toxicosis - Lucy Kemp & Katja Koeppel

08 Observations from NARREC - Liz Komen

8 Observations from NARREC - Liz Komen

09 Ensuring wildlife is not harmed by lead. Lessons & reflections from the South African Lead Task Team

9 Ensuring wildlife is not harmed by lead. Lessons & reflections from the South African Lead Task Team

10 Lead exposure in Namibia - A comparative analysis among captive cheetahs, wild cheetahs and wild leopards - Catherine Hauw

10 Lead exposure in Namibia

11 An assessment of lead levels in African tigerfish from Kavango River, Namibia - Martha George

11 An assessment of lead levels in Hydrocynus vittatus (African tigerfish)

12 The Impact of lead contamination in the vicinity of a lead-zinc mine in Kabwe, Zambia - John Yabe

12 The Impact of lead contamination in the vicinity of a lead-zinc mine in Kabwe, Zambia

13 Transitioning to Lead-free Ammunition - Justin Henry

13 Transitioning to Lead-free Ammunition - Justin Henry

Resources



Lead (Pb) levels in Namibia’s predators and scavengers - data form for samples

Data form

Lead exposure in Namibia: A comparative analysis among captive and wild cheetahs and wild leopards

Lead exposure in Namibia poster

Presentation of research into Assessing lead levels as a potential threat to Namibian vultures: Elizabeth Shilunga

Presentation of research into Assessing lead levels as a potential threat to Namibian vultures: Elizabeth Shilunga

Presentation of research into Lead exposure in carnivores in Namibia due to the use of lead bullets: Liam Reid

Presentation of research into Lead exposure in carnivores in Namibia due to the use of lead bullets in wildlife: Liam Reid

Presentation on Lead (Pb) ammunition, its health & environmental impacts and the need to phase it out in Namibia

Presentation on Lead (Pb) ammunition, its health & environmental impacts and the need to phase it out in Namibia

Presentation on NWLPWG, key issues and research results

Presentation on NWLPWG, key issues and research results

Talks & videos

International

Allen Zufelt & Chris Parish - Lead v Non Lead Bullet Demo

Allen Zufelt & Chris Parish - Lead v Non Lead Bullet Demo

John Swift - Lead in Wildlife and the Environment

Swift

Niel Kanstrup - On the way to lead-free hunting - The European approach & experience

Niel Kanstrup - On the way to lead-free hunting - The European approach & experience

Shooting and rural organisations take responsibility of move away from lead ammunition

Shooting and rural organisations take responsibility of move away from lead ammunition

Southern Africa

Anel Olivier - Avoiding local extinctions: Conservation by the Zululand Vulture Project

Anel Olivier - Avoiding local extinctions: Conservation by the Zululand Vulture Project

Arjun Amar - Hunting and elevated blood lead levels in the African White-backed Vulture

Arjun Amar - Hunting and elevated blood lead levels in the African White-backed Vulture

Ian Rushworth - The SA Lead Task Team: A collaborative approach to a complex problem

Ian Rushworth - The SA Lead Task Team: A collaborative approach to a complex problem

Johannes Kirchner - The challenges of switching to lead-free ammunition in RSA

Talk: Johannes Kirchner - The challenges of switching to lead-free ammunition in RSA

Lizanne Nel - Reducing risks of lead to wildlife - The SA HGCA approach

Lizanne Nel - Reducing risks of lead to wildlife - The SA HGCA approach

Xander Combrink - Blood lead concentrations in free-ranging Nile crocodiles

Xander Combrink - Blood lead concentrations in free-ranging Nile crocodiles

Other resources

Berny P et al. 2015. Vigilance poison: Illegal poisoning and lead intoxication are the main factors affecting avian scavenger survival in the Pyrenees (France). Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 118 71-82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2015.04.003

Ecke F et al. 2017. Sublethal lead exposure alters movement behavior in free-ranging golden eagles. Environmental Science and Technology 51 5729-5736. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b06024

Gangoso L et al 2009. Long-term effects of lead poisoning on bone mineralization in vultures exposed to ammunition sources. Environmental Pollution 157 569-574. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2008.09.015

Garbett R 2018. Conservation of raptors and vultures in Botswana: with a focus on lappet-faced vultures Torgos tracheliotos. PhD Thesis. University of Cape Town

Garbett R et al. 2018. Association between hunting and elevated blood lead levels in the critically endangered African white-backed vulture Gyps africanus. Science of The Total Environment (630) 1654-1665. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.02.220

Gil-Sánchez JM et al. 2018. From sport hunting to breeding success: Patterns of lead ammunition ingestion and its effects on an endangered raptor. Science of The Total Environment (613-614) 483-491. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.09.069

Green RE & Pain DJ 2019. Risks to human health from ammunition-derived lead in Europe. Ambio 48 954-968. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-019-01194-x

Gremse F et al 2014. Performance of lead-free versus lead-based hunting ammunition in ballistic soap. PLoS ONE 9 (7) e102015. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0102015

Haig SM et al. 2014. The persistent problem of lead poisoning in birds from ammunition and fishing tackle. The Condor 116 (3) 408-428. https://doi.org/10.1650/CONDOR-14-36.1

Hampton JO et al. 2021. Portable X-ray fluorescence for bone lead measurements of Australian eagles. Science of the Total Environment 789. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147998

Humphries M et al. 2022. High lead exposure and clinical signs of toxicosis in wild Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) from a World Heritage site: Lake St Lucia estuarine system, South Africa. Chemosphere 303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134977

Jenni L et al 2015 The frequency distribution of lead concentration in feathers, blood, bone, kidney and liver of golden eagles Aquila chrysaetos: insights into the modes of uptake. Journal of Ornithology 156, 1095–1103. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-015-1220-7

Kelly TR et al 2011. Impact of the California lead ammunition ban on reducing lead exposure in golden eagles and turkey vultures. PLoS ONE 6:4

Kenny D et al. 2015. Blood lead levels in White-Backed Vultures (Gyps africanus) from Botswana, Africa. Vulture News 68 25-31. https://doi.org/10.4314/vulnew.v68i1.2

Koeppel KN & Kemp LV 2015. Lead toxicosis in a southern ground hornbill Bucorvus leadbeateri in South Africa. Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery 29 (4) 340–344

Krüger SC 2018. Lead exposure in the critically endangered bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) population in southern Africa. Journal of Raptor Research 52 (4) 491-499

Legagneux P et al. 2014. High risk of lead contamination for scavengers in an area with high moose hunting success. PLoS ONE 9 (11) e111546. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0111546

Martin A et al. 2017. Hunting of roe deer and wild boar in Germany: Is non-lead ammunition suitable for hunting?. PLoS ONE 12:9 e0185029. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0185029

McCann BE et al 2016. Efficacy of non-lead ammunition for culling elk at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Human-Wildlife Interactions 10 (2) 268-282

Naidoo V et al. 2017. Lead ingestion as a potential contributing factor to the decline in vulture populations in southern Africa. Environmental Research 152 150-156. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2016.10.013

Nkosi DV et al. 2022 Toxic metals in meat contributed by helicopter and rifle thoracic killing of game meat animals. Appl. Sci. 12, 8095. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12168095

Oxpeckers Investigative Environmental Journalism. Zambia tallies the costs of mining for electric batteries. https://oxpeckers.org/2024/04/zambia-electric-vehicles/

Pain DJ et al. 2019. Wildlife, human and environmental costs of using lead ammunition: An economic review and analysis. Ambio 48 969-988. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-019-01157-2

Stroud RK & Hunt WG 2009. Gunshot wounds: A source of lead in the environment. In RT Watson et al (Eds.). Ingestion of lead from spent ammunition: Implications for wildlife and humans. 119-125. The Peregrine Fund

Thomson GC 2021. How do you like your meat? Unleaded, please! https://conservationnamibia.com/blog/b2021-unleaded-please.php

van den Heever L et al. 2019. Blood and bone lead levels in South Africa's Gyps vultures: Risk to nest-bound chicks and comparison with other avian taxa. Science of the Total Environment 669 471-480. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.123

van den Heever L et al. 2022. Identifying the origin of lead poisoning in white-backed vulture (Gyps africanus) chicks at an important South African breeding colony: a stable lead isotope approach. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23209-z