US appeals court rules that forest service won't prohibit lead ammo use in Arizona
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the use of lead ammunition will not be barred for Arizona hunters by the U.S. Forest Service, despite the toxic and potentially fatal effects it could have on other animals.
On Friday, the court denied an argument by the Center for Biological Diversity that the U.S. Forest Service should be ordered to ban the use of lead ammo by hunters in the 1.6 million-acre Kaibab National Forest, which borders the Grand Canyon.
The decision came from a unanimous three-judge panel, with Senior Circuit Court Judge Jay S. Bybee writing that even though Kaibab National Forest is owned and managed by the U.S. Forest Service, hunting activities are primarily regulated by the state of Arizona.
The U.S. Forest Service does have broad authority to regulate hunting and fishing activities, but it rarely exercises its authority to take over state laws related to such activities.
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This all stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity in 2012 where they accused the U.S. Forest Service of violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act by failing to regulate the use of the toxic ammunition in Arizona.
What's wrong with lead ammunition?
The Center for Biological Diversity argued that hunters in the forest commonly use the ammo, the toxicity of which puts the wildlife at risk. The panel stated it took these factual arguments as true for the purposes of the appeal.
Sometimes, the Center for Biological Diversity argued, lead ammo is left behind when either the hunter shoots an animal but does not retrieve it, or when a hunter removes the internal organs of an animal at the site to preserve the meat and leaves the remains behind.
When other animals feed on the remains of those animals, the Center for Biological Diversity argued, they ingest fragments of the lead ammunition. Lead itself is a potent toxin, so the ingestion of it can lead to multiple health consequences, including death.
Even very small fragments of the ammunition can severely poison and kill birds, the Center for Biological Diversity argued. The federal government even banned the use of lead ammunition for waterfowl such as ducks and geese, nationwide over 30 years ago, the Center for Biological Diversity noted.
With the exception of waterfowl, Arizona allows hunters to use lead ammunition. However, the state does have a voluntary program to reduce the use of lead ammunition, which provides hunters with non-lead ammo at no cost during the big-game hunting season, the Center for Biological Diversity stated.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Court rules toxic lead ammo not prohibited for Arizona hunters
