Story misrepresents role of hunting

The Centre Daily Times’ recent article “This bald eagle’s death in Centre County could have been prevented” (CDT, 8/10) mischaracterizes eagle recovery and the role hunting has played in that.

Eagles are a success story funded, in part, through excises taxes paid by firearms and ammunition makers.

Hunters are deeply invested in a healthy and sustainable wildlife population of eagles and many other species. More than $12 billion has been paid through the Pittman-Robertson excise tax since 1937, which helped eagle recovery. That’s allowed eagles to be been taken off the engendered species list in 1995 and the threatened species list in 2007. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates there are 10,000 nesting pairs of bald eagles in the lower 48 states. Alaska is estimated to hold another 40-50,000.

The report attempts to connect eagle exposure to lead in traditional ammunition. But this doesn’t account for the fact that traditional ammunition accounts for just 5 percent of all domestic lead use. It also doesn’t account for the fact that hunters have been using traditional ammunition since the first modern hunters took to the woods in North America.

The firearms and ammunition industry does produce and offer alternative ammunition options. Market demand for those alternatives is low, just 1 percent of the entire ammunition market. Mandating its use is unneeded and potentially detrimental to ensuring we continue to see eagles soaring in our skies.

Lawrence G. Keane is senior vice president and general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

This story was originally published August 14, 2017 at 9:40 PM with the headline "Story misrepresents role of hunting."