A small-caliber shortage might be a big problem for California hunters, ranchers, and California condor recovery

Continued cases of lead poisoning among California condors (Gymnogyps californianus), after California laws began requiring the use of non-lead ammunition when shooting wildlife, has hunters, conservationists, and lawmakers searching for answers. Researchers maintain that lead poisoning remains the greatest threat to the recovery of California condors (Rideout et al. 2012; Finkelstein et al. 2012; Bakker et al. 2024) and have identified the ingestion of lead from spent ammunition as the primary source for these scavengers (Church et al. 2006). In a central California condor population ranging from southern Santa Clara County to San Luis Obispo County, we documented 25 condor fatalities due to lead toxicosis in 2020–2024, or an average of 5% annual mortality due to lead during that five-year period (USFWS 2024). This regularity of fatalities due to lead exposure seemed unlikely when the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act was approved in 2007, requiring the use of non-lead ammunition within the condor range of California. The law was extended statewide in 2019 and required non-lead ammunition for shooting any wildlife species with any firearm in the state. Nevertheless, the lead threat remains for scavengers. Continued lead poisoning of condors has some wondering if lead ammunition is still being used, despite the law, and what else needs to be done to solve the lead poisoning problem.