Bald eagle found in Prince William County dies at wildlife center

An American Bald Eagle found along Va. 234 between Manassas and Dumfries on Wednesday has died of lead poisoning at the Wildlife Center of Virginia in Waynesboro.

The eagle was initially taken to the the Village Veterinary Clinic in Burke, where a volunteer from the wildlife center picked it up and took it to Waynesboro, said Ed Clark, the center’s president.

According to a wildlife center news advisory, blood tests showed that the eagle had lead levels that were too high for the center’s instruments to read.

The eagle died Thursday afternoon, despite hours oxygen therapy.

Clark said eagles and other raptors typically get lead poisoning from scavenging on animals that have been shot but not recovered by hunters who used lead ammunition.

An eagle can die from ingesting as little as a single pellet of lead bird shot, Clark said.

Bird shot is generally less than 1/4 the size of a tomato seed.

“One shotgun pellet is all it takes — one tiny sliver of a bullet,” he said. “It’s astonishing how quickly a single pellet will affect one of these birds. It’s amazing how little it takes to do the damage.”

Experts can treat for lead poisoning with a process called chelation, which is a calcium replacement.

“It’s essentially injected into the body to absorb the lead,” Clark said.

Unfortunately, by the time symptoms show up in wildlife, it’s usually too late. At the least, the lead destroys the optic nerves.

“These animals go blind and once the nerve is gone there’s nothing you can do even if you can keep the animal alive,” Clark said.

Death is most often the result of lead poisoning, Clark said.

“Part of the problem is when that lead starts leeching, it causes the body to shut down including the digestive system. So instead of moving it on through like you would expect for some foreign body, it gets in there and it stops, and the digestive juices continue to dissolve the lead and it leeches into the system,” Clark said.

Clark advocates for hunters to use copper or steel ammunition which he said is every bit as effective as lead.

Senior reporter Keith Walker can be reached at 703-369-6751.