For awhile most of the current news will, in some way, concern guns and ammunition. It is nearly impossible not to be consumed with the topic, and a divisive, depressing one it is.
In my reading I came across a little publicized fact in an article in the Washington Post, posted Oct. 5. It involves creatures near and dear and totally innocent of the awareness of politics and political parties and how they both are at war with gun advocacy, either by strengthening controls or by loosening restrictions. It has to do with birds, fish, and other wildlife sharing our country.
The article, “With little fanfare, gun regulation being eased.” by Beth Reinhard and Sari Horwitz, brings into light the Interior Department of the U.S. lifting a federal ban on hunting with lead ammunition in national parks.
Now, here is a subject that just might be able to be agreed upon regardless of political persuasion? Doesn’t everyone care about swans, ducks, quail and mourning doves? No? Well, how about bald eagles? Who do you know that wouldn’t appreciate seeing our national bird soaring overhead? Still no takers?
All of the above and more — birds of prey as well as the wildlife that keeps our rodents in check — are at risk, thanks to a little known removal of the ban against lead ammunition by the new Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke.
President Obama signed into law by executive action, one day before President Trump’s inauguration, the ban to protect birds and fish from lead poisoning. Because the ban wasn’t created through Congress, it could be overturned by a simple stroke of the pen and it was and we weren’t aware of it. This sort of thing isn’t announced with marching bands and flags. It is done quietly with little or no public awareness.
Why so quiet? This information has been obtained by an Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service fact sheet where, interestingly, hunting and fishing are very popular.
The material acknowledges that many states have banned lead ammunition because it poisons and kills those animals that ingest it. Lead bioaccumulates, that is, it is absorbed quicker than it is expelled so the animals suffer anemia, neurological and immune system impairment.
The lead shot, even if it doesn’t immediately bring down a bird, can be ingested because many creatures think the shot that accumulates on the ground is edible.
Or, the lead sinkers used in fishing are ingested by fish and then eaten by scavenger birds or other animals.
The tragedy is that there is no reason for hunters and fishers to use lead at all. Other metals, such as copper, brass, steel or tungsten comprise effective ammunition or fishing weights without poisoning animals or the environment.
Perhaps a letter or phone call to our representatives in Congress would bring this little known ban reversal into the light of day? I am particularly saddened that the new secretary is from Montana — a state that contains most every one of my in-laws.
It is beautiful — the Big Sky country — one to be cherished and visited, even for hunting and fishing. The very ranch that my late husband was born to and raised upon contains county land and roads which lead (same spelling but different word) into mountains and forests, with wild streams and wildlife in abundance. Folks drive onto their ranch en route with their elk tag or deer tag in the fall before the snow piles up and the roads are impassable.
Although our family didn’t hunt, when we would trek into the Trinity Mountains and Marble Mountains in Northern California, we were guided always by another family who did. We were very close friends and learned all about hiking, camping and mostly backpacking from their wonderful experience and knowledge. Even with our young children, two of whom were 10 and one five, we felt safe.
I remember that the hunters in their family, one father and three sons, would seem bemused by the friendliness of the deer that would enter our campsites looking for tidbits or just curious about us. The deer somehow knew the difference between summer campers and fall hunters — even though they were the same folks. But, for now, a doe’s main focus was the chocolate pudding keeping cool in the stream in the cooking pot. One lick at a time, she polished it off.
The remembrance of that makes me smile. I need to send this column to Ryan Zinke.
Renee Kiff weeds and writes at her family farm in Alexander Valley.
