Lead is a poison that is harmful to wildlife and people. When lead-based ammunition is used to hunt white-tailed deer, lead fragments can remain in the meat, carcass, and gut piles, which can expose people and wildlife scavengers to lead.
The New York Lead Ammunition Working Group was formed to help minimize risks from lead hunting ammunition for wildlife and people. This group is made up of the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Department of Health, Cornell University’s Wildlife Health Lab, the Venison Donation Coalition, the New York State Conservation Council, and Audubon New York. One of the group’s recommendations is to identify wildlife species that scavenge on deer remains (carcass, gut piles, other) that need to be prioritized for lead testing in New York.
Cornell Wildlife Health Lab is leading this effort and they need your help! They are looking for game camera photos of a deer carcass or gut pile with at least one wildlife scavenger in frame, even if they are not actively feeding. If you have collected such photos in recent years and are willing to share a few suitable images, please take a short survey. The form allows you to upload up to 20 photos per game camera from a maximum of 5 game cameras.
They are accepting photos only until August 13th.
