Last year was not a good year for eagles in the region.

Wildlife rehabilitators said many eagles died from lead toxicity after eating remains of hunter-killed game containing lead ammunition.

They said switching to nonlead bullets and shotgun shells would be a simple solution to the often tragic problem.

Carol Holmgren, executive director and principal licensed wildlife rehabilitator at Tamarack Wildlife Center in Saegertown in Crawford County, said all 14 eagles brought to the center last year died and 57% of those eagles had lead poisoning.

“Last year was a rough year for survivability,” Holmgren said.

She said 2021 was an anomaly. It was the only year in the history of the center that none of the eagles it took in were released back into the wild, she said.

Records about the eagles that Tamarack treated last year for issues other than lead poisoning were not immediately available, but vehicle accidents are tied with lead toxicity as the leading causes of eagle deaths, Holmgren said. Illnesses such as west Nile virus, injuries from fighting with other eagles, pest poison and eaglets falling from nests are the other most common cause of fatalities, she said.

Lead poisoning can cause an eagle to have slower reactions, making them more vulnerable to being hit by a vehicle while feeding on a road-killed animal, Holmgren said.

Since 2009, 35% of the eagles admitted at Tamarack tested positive for lead poisoning, she said.

Wildbird Recovery in Middlesex Township saw a bald eagle that was found locally with a blood lead level of 8 parts per million die last year.

“Blood level concentrations of anything over 1 ppm is considered evidence of severe incurable lead poisoning in bald eagles,” said Melissa McMaster-Brown of Wildbird Recovery, which is part of the Stormy Oaks Nature Conservancy.

Lead poisoning, which affects a variety of birds and mammals, is difficult and expensive to treat, but easy to solve, Holmgren said.

Staff has to be trained and experienced to handle eagles, maintaining testing materials costs $400 a year and treatment medication, which must be kept in stock, is expensive, she said.

Tamarack’s facility includes a 100-foot flight building where rehabilitating birds can regain flying strength.

“It’s very difficult to treat,” Holmgren said. “For all of the species I treat, eagles are amazing, They’re so mighty and majestic. It’s pretty gut wrenching to see a severely impacted eagle.”

She said Tamarack appreciates hunters and collaborates with the Pennsylvania Game Commission to educate hunters about the impact lead has on wildlife.

“This is a really easy problem to solve,” Holgren said.

Hunters should bury the remains of their kills and switch to lead-free ammunition.

Eagles, turkey vultures, hawks, owls, coyotes and foxes contract lead poisoning by ingesting lead ammunition or fragments of ammunition from the remains of game animals killed by hunters and from the remains of groundhogs and raccoons killed by farmers due to crop damage, she said.

Loons get lead poisoning from eating fish that have ingested lead sinkers or other fishing tackle, she said.

Dabbling duck are susceptible by eating aquatic plants and invertebrates containing lead shot from shotgun shells left on the bottom of lakes and streams, she said.

“It only takes a fragment the size of grain of rice to be fatal. It doesn’t take much,” Holmgren said.

Birds have highly acidic digestive systems and muscular gizzards that quickly gets lead into the bloodstream, she said. Mammals are less susceptible to lead poisoning because their stomachs are less acidic, she added.

In 1989, only three nesting pairs of eagles were documented in Pennsylvania.

Now, there are more than 400 nesting pairs and the population is trending upward, but lead poisoning is a growing concern, according to Jason Amory, information and education officer with the game commission’s northwest regional office in Franklin.

“It’s probably the primary concern for eagles right now,” Amory said.

He said some people who shoot groundhogs and leave the carcasses for eagles to eat are doing more harm than good.

“This lead poisoning stems from our ignorance on the effects of lead shot in game, mainly. Most people are well intentioned, but it turns out to be quite the opposite,” Amory said.

He said nontoxic shotgun shells and rifle bullets are available, but they tend to be more expensive than traditional ammunition.

Most rifle bullets have lead cores encased in copper jackets, which enhance the projectile’s flight and loading properties, he said. Solid copper bullets are considered nontoxic.

Shotgun shells containing lead have been illegal for waterfowl hunting in the United States since 1991.

Amory said he believes hunters would resist a ban on all lead ammunition, but some hunters have made the switch voluntarily.