Golden eagles are facing a tough road ahead in Wyoming — one of the most important habitats for the majestic creature. In a relatively short period of time the state has lost about a third of the resident population, causing concern for scientists and conservationists.

“We’re seeing roughly 30% of our population has declined in the past 20 years,” said ornithologist Bryan Bedrosian, founder of Sporting Lead-Free, bird biologist in Wyoming for the past 24 years and conservation and research director at Teton Raptors Center for the past decade. “It’s something that we’re really closely keeping an eye out.”

Wyoming is a key area for nesting golden eagles in the West. Additionally, the state has some of the best wintering habitat and important migration corridors for golden eagles that spend the breeding season in Canada and Alaska. While bald eagles are one of the best conservation success stories in the U.S., despite suffering from some of the same challenges as their larger cousins, golden eagle populations continue to struggle in the West.

For Bedrosian, his efforts are personal. He’s watched golden eagles, his favorite “day time” species of raptor, die from lead poisoning while working at the center (His favorite “night time” species is the great gray owl).

Bedrosian was speaking to the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, providing them with an update on the nonprofit, which is growing quickly; possibly due to their nonpolitical educational approach, rather than pushing for legislation restricting the use of lead in ammunition and fishing gear.

“We are a community of hunters and anglers and organizations that strive for the betterment of the conservation of our wildlife through the use of lead free ammunition and tackle,” Bedrosian told the commission last month during their meeting in Lander. “We’ve taken this model that we built in Wyoming to a more national level,” Bedrosian told the Tribune last January.

The group is working directly with several states now, including Colorado, Montana, Idaho, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Alaska to incorporate with their state agencies as well as other organizations to increase awareness and provide information to them so they can adapt the groups’ tenets to their local communities. They also have ambassadors in 26 other states and two Canadian provinces.

Research has detected unexpectedly high frequencies of lead poisoning of eagles, both chronic (46% to 47% of bald and golden eagles, as measured in bone) and acute (27% to 33% of bald eagles and 7% to 35% of golden eagles, as measured in liver, blood and feathers). Frequency of lead poisoning was influenced by age, region and season. Demographic modeling suggests that lead poisoning is an under-appreciated but important constraint on continent-wide populations of these iconic, protected species.

Lead core bullets expand and fragment into near-microscopic pieces, ending up in gut piles and meat we feed to our families, according to an official at Sporting Lead-Free. Predators and scavengers who feed on gut piles can ingest those lead fragments and become poisoned. Lead poisoning causes brain damage, among other organ issues, which causes erratic behavior, stumbling and impaired judgment before ultimately killing the poisoned individual or animal. Raptors are particularly susceptible to lead poisoning. A fragment of lead about the size of half a grain of rice (about 20 mg or .0007 ounces) can kill an eagle.

Encouraging hunters to switch to nonlead ammunition is one of the few things that can be done easily to mitigate mortality, Bedrosian said, while other issues, such as traffic hits and windmill strikes, will be much harder to solve.

The leading causes of mortality in golden eagles are primarily human-related, including electrocution, illegal shooting, poisoning (from lead ammunition and rodenticides), and collisions with wind turbines and vehicles. Natural causes such as starvation and intraspecific aggression also contribute significantly to mortality, particularly in juveniles, according to a study by Vincent A. Slabe of the Peregrine Fund, Ross Crandall of Game and Fish, Todd Katzner of the U.S. Geological Survey and Adam Duerr of Conservation Global Science. The results were published by The Journal of Wildlife Management and titled “Efficacy of non-lead ammunition distribution programs to offset fatalities of golden eagles in southeast Wyoming.” 

The team handed out free nonlead ammo to 699 Wyoming hunters in 2020 and 2022. These hunters harvested 296 pronghorn, 14 deer and 33 elk in the study area, which accounted for just under 7% of the harvest in the two hunt units. Then the team did a golden eagle population surveys after the season had closed and determined that nonlead ammunition distribution programs can offset eagle fatalities.

“Our work illustrates the potential usefulness of nonlead ammunition distribution programs as an action to mitigate eagle fatalities caused by wind facilities or other anthropogenic causes of death,” the paper concluded.

What’s in your rifle?

Yet, despite evidence proving the harm to the species, people still want their lead when they head out for a big game hunt. Yet, Sporting Lead-Free hopes continued educational programs will gently change their minds.

“We all know lead is a toxic metal to most animals. We have removed it from our gasoline, candy wrappers, paint and water pipes because it’s bad for us,” said Hannah Leonard, program director for Sporting Lead-Free while speaking to the Mule Deer Foundation.

While participating in a state program to direct available wild game to the needy, every package of ground meat was X-rayed to rid packages with lead inclusions prior to distribution. Bedrosian said about one in five of the thousands of packages prepared had lead in the meat.

“It’s not going to cause anyone to go to the hospital, but there is lead in roughly 18% of our packaged meat that we bring home if we use lead based ammunition,” he told the commission.

At this point the only U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program receiving compensatory mitigation of accidental eagle take is the retrofitting of power poles to help reduce eagle electrocutions. If the service makes the move to add lead-free bullets to the program, Sporting Lead-Free would love to be part of distributing the ammo, Bedrosian said.

“We’re in conversations with state and federal leaders to support lead-free ammo [through the program],” he said. “It could be huge and a nice positive way hunters can make a impact as well.”