State sued over failure to ban lead ammunition

Several environmental groups filed suit Thursday against the California Fish and Game Commission and the state Department of Fish and Game for continuing to let hunters use lead ammunition, which they allege poisons rare California condors.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Ventura-based Wishtoyo Foundation, as well as a few hunters, sued the state on the grounds it is violating the federal Endangered Species Act by permitting continued harm to condors.

“It’s about all of us working together for the sake of the environment,” said Mati Waiya, executive director of the Wishtoyo Foundation, a Native American organization.

“Condors have been around for 10,000 years, as have the Chumash people,” Waiya said. “As a ceremonial leader, I have a sacred obligation to protect them.”

The plaintiffs maintain that many California condors die after feeding on the carcasses of deer and other wildlife killed with lead bullets or buckshot. Golden and bald eagles are also harmed by ingesting lead.

“This is not an anti-hunting lawsuit. It’s about protecting the condors and working with hunters to find a common-sense solution” that doesn’t include lead ammunition, said James M. Birkelund, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Lead is a toxic element that can cause brain damage, kidney disease, high blood pressure and numerous reproductive and neurological disorders.

Steve Martarano, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game, said the lawsuit’s timing was disappointing because the agency is reviewing all hunting regulations for proposed changes next spring. The commission is set to examine lead ammunition during a meeting Thursday at the Santa Monica Public Library.

“There’s going to be plenty of public input that goes into these new regulations,” Martarano said. “We’ve urged hunters for a long time to ‘get the lead out’ whenever possible.”

Steve Williams, president of the Wildlife Management Institute in Washington, D.C., said his group has worked in Arizona and California to propose voluntary compliance with lead ammunition reductions. The nonprofit has encouraged hunters to remove dead wildlife from the forest when possible, or otherwise bury lead-tainted remains.

Higher-priced ammunition -- copper, steel or titanium bullets -- is available, but Williams said too little scientific study has been done to ensure these metals won’t cause unforeseen problems in the future.

But Bob Hattoy, vice president of the Fish and Game Commission, said the science is clear. It makes sense to remove lead from the condors’ habitat, he said, considering that the state and federal governments have spent years and more than $40 million on a captive breeding program to increase the population of the prehistoric raptor from 22 to about 300.

“Lead is killing the condors. Lead is also poisoning hunters, their families and those who eat their kill. And it is killing Native Americans who live off the land,” said Hattoy, the only commissioner who supported a 2005 petition to impose an immediate ban on lead ammunition.

greg.griggs@latimes.com