from WCCO TV in the twin cities:
Recovering Swan Population Threatened By
Lead Poisoning
January
17, 2013 11:09 PM
MINNEAPOLIS
(WCCO) – A beautiful bird has
made a comeback in the Midwest. Once endangered,
hundreds of trumpeter swans can now be seen along the St. Croix River near
Hudson, Wis., this time of year.
But bird lovers
are concerned for the swans’ health because of what the drought has revealed
beneath the water and ice: lead. That unseen danger could impact the bird’s
future.
“I have three
deaths so far,” said Barry Wallace with the Wisconsin DNR.
Wallace monitors
the birds for the DNR and sees the effects of lead.
“You’ll usually
always see a bird separate itself, go off, all by itself, usually up on the ice
shelf,” he said.
With water levels
low, there’s concern many more will get sick.
The birds have to
reach down in the river to get gravel that aids them in digestion. Sometimes,
however, they ingest lead sinkers, which are used in fishing, that are mixed up
in the gravel.
“These birds reach 4-5 feet down and just makes that much more lead available
to them,” Wallace said.
The Wildlife
Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota is currently treating seven birds with lead
exposure.
“Trumpeter swans
are called trumpeter swans because they have this big voice, and when they come
in with lead poisoning they can barely croak,” said Phillip Jenni, the center’s
director.
He plans to see
between 20 and 40 swans this year, and only half will likely return to the
wild.
“It’s really sad
to see, because [lead poisoning] is a really slow decline,” he said.
Now those who work
with the birds are trying to educate others.
“There’s nothing
that can be done about the lead already on the bottom, but we can stop putting
it in there,” Wallace said.
While lead
birdshot was outlawed in the ’90s, people can still chose between lead and
nontoxic sinkers for fishing.
If you see an
injured swan, you should contact the DNR. It costs the rehabilitation center
about $50 a day when a trumpeter comes in with lead poisoning.
And if they
survive, they need up to three months of treatment.
If you’d like to
help, visit the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center’s website.
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