Publication: High Levels of Blood Lead in Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus) from Cazorla Natural Park (Southern Spain)
Authors
García Fernández, Antonio Juan ; Martínez López, Enma ; Romero García, Diego ; Maria Mojica, P. ; Godino, A. ; Jiménez, P.
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Publisher
Wiley
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DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/tox.20132
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info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Description
©2005. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
This document is the Accepted, version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Environmental Toxicology. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1002/tox.20132
Abstract
The blood lead of 23 griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) trapped in 2003 was analyzed in order to
evaluate exposure to lead in the vulture population of Cazorla Natural Park (in southern Spain). In 2001 the
use of leaded gasoline in vehicles was banned in the European Union; however, lead ammunition is still used
in Spain in big-game hunting for red deer, fallow deer, mouflon, and wild boar, which are ingested by vultures
from September to March. The mean concentration of lead in blood was 43.07 6 31.96 g/dL with a range
of 17.39–144.80 g/dL. Only two vultures had lead levels below 20 g/dL, and two others had blood lead
concentrations close to 150 g/dL. In view of the results, we think the population of vultures from Cazorla
Natural Park is suffering subclinical exposure to lead, with some individuals exposed to high toxicity risk. We
concluded that ingestion of lead in the metallic form alone is sufficient to produce these blood lead concentrations, and we recommend the prohibition of lead ammunition for big-game hunting in order to preserve
the vulture population.
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Citation
Environmental Toxicology 20 (2005): 459–463
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