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The widespread use of lead (Pb) shot in shooting activities, including at former shooting ranges, continues to pose environmental risks. The La Crosse River Marsh (located in Wisconsin, USA) is a biologically diverse urban riparian wetland with a legacy of Pb-contaminated sediment resulting from its use as a trap shooting range from 1929-1963. Within the shot fall zone, shot densities exceed 43,000 pellets/m

Legacy lead (Pb) contamination from sport shooting activities is a well-known hazard. Assessing the risk this contamination presents to the environment and public health requires a detailed understanding of its spatial distribution, yet our knowledge in this area is limited, especially for wetland shooting ranges. In this study, we analyzed 1351 sediment samples from 456 surficial (0–5 cm) locations and 38 sediment cores (0.3 to 0.9 m) to quantify the three dimensional spatial distribution of Pb contamination in an urban wetland at the site of a former trap shooting range located in southwestern Wisconsin, USA. Non-destructive X-ray images of the sediment cores were used to quantify Pb shot abundance and burial depth. Surficial and core sediment samples were processed and analyzed for total Pb content via X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis. X-ray and XRF results were interpolated to create a three-dimensional model of Pb shot density and sediment concentration across the study area. Over 31,000 m 3 of sediment surpassed the US Environmental Protection Agency's contamination threshold of 400 mg/kg Pb, with a maximum calibrated value of 26,700 mg/kg Pb occurring near the center of the expected shot fallout zone. Shot densities of > 50,000 pellets/m 2 were found in the shot fallout zone, primarily 10–30 cm below the sediment surface. X-ray image analysis and XRF analysis of sediment cores provide an accurate and inexpensive technique for rapidly mapping Pb contamination associated with gun clubs and hunting; these findings will benefit environmental contamination studies and remediation efforts at active and abandoned shooting ranges worldwide.

We assess lead contamination of Greenland seabirds killed with lead shot having studied thick-billed murre and common eider, the two most important species in the diet. The lead concentration is very high in meat of eiders killed with lead shot (mean 6.1 μg/g-wet wt, 95% CL 2.1–12). This level is about 44 times higher than in drowned eiders and eight times higher than in shot murres. Analyzing whole breasts instead of sub-samples reveals about seven times higher lead levels in birds’ meat. We conclude that in some cases the lead intake by Greenland bird eaters will largely exceed the FAO/WHO tolerable lead intake guideline and that lead shot is a more important source of lead in the diet than previously estimated.

Lead contamination of seabirds from the use of lead shot in Greenland was studied in thick-billed murre hunted at Nuuk in November 1998. In each bird shot pellets were located and counted using X-ray. The birds were skinned and viscera, head, wings and legs removed, after which the carcass was cooked. The soup and breast meat were then analyzed for lead after removal of visible shot pellets. In the soup the lead concentration was quite low, mean 6.3 micrograms/l (95% confidence interval between 4.4 and 8.2 micrograms/l), whereas breast meat lead values have a mean of 0.22 microgram/g (wet weight basis; 95% confidence interval between 0.10 and 0.36 microgram/g). This is more than 10 times higher than in birds not killed with lead shot. We found no correlation between lead concentration measured and number of pellets recorded in the whole bird or in the soup or in meat. The study indicates that lead in the meat exists as small lead fragments, left during the passage of pellets through the breast. Because of inhomogeneous lead distribution in samples, the uncertainty of estimated lead concentration in breast meat is high. Based on this study, it is concluded that birds killed with lead shot are a significant source of lead, probably the most important single source, of the diet of many people in Greenland. We estimate an intake of 50 micrograms lead from eating one boiled murre with soup. In addition people will occasionally eat whole lead shot pellets which have documented health effects. An intake of 50 micrograms lead is about twice as much as the daily average lead intake from all dietary sources in Denmark, about 25 times the daily lead intake from other marine food items in Greenland, and about one-fourth of the accepted tolerable daily intake.

The main cause of lead poisoning in waterfowl is due to ingestion of spent lead shot in areas of high hunting pressure . Italian literature on this subject is very scarce and the few available studies concern episodic cases. to contribute to the assessment of the impact of lead shot in waterfowl in Italy, systematic research has been carried out on shorebirds caught for ringing in Tiscany and are continuing on dabbling and diving ducks by checking the presence of lead in blood samples and lead shot in the gizzard. This study targets the mallard duck. 17 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab.