Rare birds 'at risk of poisoning from eating lead shot'

Warning by expert panel says up to 400,000 wildfowl a year may suffer lead poisoningSeveral rare bird species, including a breed of red-headed duck listed as "vulnerable", are under threat from lead poisoning linked to shooting, a new report says.Numbers of common pochard, a duck species at risk of global extinction, have fallen substantially over the past 30 years, a decline partly attributed to the fact that they eat some of the 5,000 tonnes of lead pellets discarded in the countryside by people shooting game, according to the Lead Ammunition Group (LAG). Continue reading...