Golden eagles, American crows and Virginia opossums are also being found dead in the hills and forests of the northeastern US state… <\/p>
Approximately 30 species of birds and mammals are known to scavenge deer carcasses in New York State. But this source of food is proving a deadly option for some of them.<\/strong><\/p> Many of the deer are shot by hunters and their bodies \u2013 or parts of their bodies \u2013 left on the ground. The lead ammunition embedded in their carcasses is poisonous to most scavenging animals<\/a>, causing illness and sometimes death when ingested. <\/p> In a new\u00a0study<\/a> published earlier this week in The Wild Society<\/em> journal, experts from Cornell University and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) found that bald eagles \u2013 the national animal of the USA<\/a> \u2013\u00a0are most at risk from this bullet-derived lead poisoning.<\/p> Analysing images collected from game cameras across the state, the team of researchers documented 14 birds and 17 mammals that fed on deer carcasses and gut piles (specifically of white-tailed deer).<\/p> To assess the risk to each species, they considered their numbers, physical traits and opportunity to scavenge, eventually determining that bald eagles are most at risk from ingesting toxic debris from lead bullets, followed by golden eagles<\/a>, American goshawks, American crows and common ravens<\/a>.<\/p> Used by most deer hunters, lead bullets shatter on impact into hundreds of fragments that can spread through the animal’s body. A piece of bullet smaller than a grain of rice can kill an eagle.<\/p> \u201cA surprising number of species are at risk, and we can use bald eagles to continue to monitor lead issues because they are quite vulnerable,\u201d says\u00a0Krysten Schuler, a wildlife disease ecologist and co-authored the study.<\/p> The study revealed that other species are less exposed, for example turkey vultures, because they are absent in the area for much of New York State\u2019s big-game hunting season. Animals that hibernate<\/a> during the hunting season are also less at risk.<\/p>