‘Long Overdue’ Lead Ammunition Ban Announced in the UK to Save Thousands of Birds

‘Long Overdue’ Lead Ammunition Ban Announced in the UK to Save Thousands of Birds

In a huge win for British water, birds, and communities, the UK environment ministry has announced a rapid phase out leading to a total ban on lead ammunition.

Global health authorities agree unanimously that there is no safe level of lead exposure, and lead shotgun pellets and small-caliber ammunition are two of the most persistent poisons of bird life, particularly waterfowl.

In 2008, the California government introduced a phase-out/ban of lead ammunition in the southern geographical range of the California condor, which helped reduced excess mortality from ingestion of lead by these scavengers.

Though not scavengers, waterfowl are also at high risk of lead poisoning since they’re traditionally hunted with shotguns that fire clusters of lead pellets, called shot, and because these birds habitually ingest small stones as a digestive aid. They’ve been known to mistake shot and bullets for these stones.

Starting from 2026 and coming into total effect by 2029, any shot containing more than 1% lead or bullets with more than 3% lead, will no longer be legal to use. Announced on Saturday by Environment Minister Emma Hardy, the decision was informed by the UK’s Health and Safety Executive, which had originally proposed a longer phase-out period.

Hardy declined, and opted instead for a faster, 3-year phase out.

“Britain is a proud nation of nature lovers, but our rivers are polluted and iconic birds are declining. This ban will help reverse that, protecting birdlife and restoring our countryside,” Hardy said in a statement.

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Steel, copper, tungsten, and bismuth are all ballistically similar to lead, and to most hunters and shooters, any differences would be undetectable; substantially more subtle than variations in groupings and placement brought about from mere human influence like trigger panic or shoulder fatigue.

Exemptions will be made for law enforcement and military in the case of small-caliber bullets where no alternative is available.

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According to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT), some 100,000 birds die annually in the UK from ingesting lead shot. Voluntary methods, which have shown some success in protecting condors in America, haven’t worked as well in the UK, and a study from the country in 2022 found that 99.5% of hunted pheasants that were tested for lead found the heavy metal in their bloodstream.

The WWT called the decision a “huge day for wildlife,” while the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds called it “long overdue.”

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