Taking a page from the wildlife department in AZ, the Utah DWR has announced that they will begin offering a $25 check to hunters who voluntarily switch to lead-free ammo in the condor areas. This should easily offset the additional cost of the ammunition, and help to dispel one of the roadblocks to voluntary adoption of non-lead bullets.
From the article on KCPW News:
(KCPW News) The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is following Arizona’s lead in launching a program that aims to reduce the number of California condors poisoned by lead from bullets. The division has offered $25 toward non-lead ammunition to hunters that commit to using it in areas of the state where the condors make their homes.
“They’re feeding on the gut piles, and in some cases carcasses, of animals that have lead fragments embedded in the tissues,” says Jim Parrish, Avian Program Coordinator for the DWR. “They ingest the lead fragments and then that results in them getting lead poisoning and some birds have died from that as a result of foraging on those carcasses.”
Check it out, California! This is how it could have been here, too!
No kidding. My dysfunctional legislature embarrasses me.