The gradual reduction of lead ammunition use on California land starts this Wednesday and marks the first step toward elimination of these bullets by 2019.
by Hannah Moore
June 30, 2015—Effort to ban lead ammunition across California is set to begin tomorrow in small increments.
Assembly Bill 711, which passed into law in 2013, calls for the complete ban of lead ammunition by 2019 and for hunters of Nelson bighorn sheep to stop using the ammo, reported the Times-Standard News.
State officials voted to eliminate lead ammunition when numerous reports surfaced during the last few years that reveal the material’s danger to the California condor, according to KPBS.
One of these affected birds is a state condor named Miracle, who was treated at the Oakland Zoo earlier this month for lead poisoning. Some of her species died from feeding on lead-filled carcasses.
Restrictions on lead-ammunition use in California condor areas are already in place and will remain that way.
More limits will roll out in increments during the next four years, which will give hunters time to convert to necessary alternatives. The long-term goal is for hunters on the California Department of Fish and Wildlife lands to be using lead-free ammunition by July 2019.
In July of next year, the reduction will expand to prohibit use of lead ammunition when hunting upland game birds with shotguns. Small game mammals, fur-bearing mammals, non-game birds and licensed hunters at game bird clubs will be the exceptions to this rule.
Early next year, use of lead-ammunition shotguns on wildlife for the purpose of depredation in the state will also be banned. Next on the list of bans will be some shotgun shells.
The ban will affect little area of California in this first stage.
Wednesday is the beginning of Bill 711 efforts as well as the start of a new fiscal year.
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