2017 Science@CornellVet: The price of freedom: How our choice to use lead is killing the bald eagle (part 1)

Abstract

This blog post is about: Cornell University’s Animal Health Diagnostic Center (AHDC) employs some of the brightest minds in ecology and wildlife health. Dr. Krysten Schuler, a wildlife disease ecologist, has been leading the research effort exploring the role environmental lead plays in bald eagle health. Schuler partnered with the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation to analyze two decades’ worth of data collected from New York State to identify sources of mortality. Their results are disturbing: 17% of bald eagle carcasses examined revealed death due to lead poisoning, and 80% had measurable lead levels in their blood, tissues, or bone. Schuler reports that adult eagles are more likely to die from lead poisoning than juveniles, posing a serious threat to the reproductive success of the species because adults nest and rear young.