A lead-poisoned loon was collected on August 6 from Little Lake Sunapee in New London. The loon was reported to be acting strangely for a few days, staying very close to shore and not diving.
“It did not put up a fight or try to swim away when I captured it with a net, and it barely made a sound on the way to Wings of the Dawn Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Henniker,” said Loon Preservation Committee (LPC) Outreach/Volunteer Coordinator Susie Burbidge.
The loon was quickly transported to Weare Animal Hospital, where an x-ray revealed a metal object in the loon’s gizzard, so the loon was euthanized. A necropsy performed at Tufts Veterinary School in Massachusetts confirmed a lead-headed jig in the loon’s gizzard, and the loon’s body fluids tested very high for lead as well.
Another lead-poisoned loon was collected just a few days later on Lake Winnipocket in Webster after ingesting a lead sinker and being attacked by another loon.
Loons ingest lead by eating a fish that has ingested a lead sinker or jig, or by striking at tackle or fish as they are being retrieved through the water. They may also ingest sinkers from the lake bottom, mistaking them for the stones that they regularly swallow to aid in digestion.
Over 60% of loons with lead tackle also have a hook, swivel, or fishing line in their gizzards, suggesting that most lead objects come from current fishing activity and not the lake bottom. A loon will die approximately two to four weeks after ingesting a lead object.
Poisoning from lead fishing tackle is the leading cause of adult loon mortality in New Hampshire. “The death of these loons is so senseless and tragic!” said Kittie Wilson, a recipient of the LPC Spirit of the Loon award. “Please, please ask yourself and others, ‘What’s in your tackle box?’ If it is full of old sinkers and jigs, they are most probably deadly lead.”
The loss of so many adult loons from this preventable cause of mortality has inhibited the recovery of loons in New Hampshire, according to the LPC. “Because loons do not breed on average until six to seven years of age and have low reproductive success, it is important that adult loons survive for many years to produce surviving young,” said Harry Vogel, Senior Biologist and Executive Director at LPC. “The loss of an adult loon may also result in the loss of that loon’s nest or chicks, further negatively impacting the population.”
New Hampshire was the first state in the nation to restrict the sale and use of small lead fishing tackle to protect loons. In 2013, Governor Hassan signed a bill that increases protection for loons from lead fishing jigs, which will be implemented on June 1, 2016, banning the sale and freshwater use of lead fishing sinkers and jigs weighing one ounce or less.
There has been a big push in the state of New Hampshire to educate and motivate anglers to switch to lead-free tackle before the new law goes into effect. New Hampshire partners joined a region-wide initiative called Fish Lead Free (FishLeadFree.org), which is providing resources and information across New England.
The Loon Preservation Committee (LPC) urges everyone to remove lead tackle from their tackle boxes. Safe alternatives to lead tackle made of steel, tungsten, tin and many other materials are effective and readily available. You can find a list of suppliers at Loon.org.
The Loon Preservation Committee (Loon.org) monitors loons throughout the state as part of its mission to restore and maintain a healthy population of loons in New Hampshire; to monitor the health and productivity of loon populations as sentinels of environmental quality; and to promote a greater understanding of loons and the natural world.