ABSTRACT
Lead poisoning of avians resulting from the ingestion of lead shot is a contemporary problem which has generated considerable interest as well as substantial intervention. Despite the efforts undertaken in North America and Europe to limit the entry of lead into the environment as a byproduct of sportsmen’s’ activities, lead intoxication remains the most common metal intoxication occurring in free-ranging avian species. Lead toxicosis results in diminished values of the major erythrocytic parameters. The effects of dietary lead upon altricial hatchlings was investigated by observing the results obtained from the daily oral intubation of 25, 125 or 625 mg/kg of body weight of metallic lead powder in corn oil to raptors Falco sparverius during the first to the tenth day of post-hatch life. In birds it has resulted from ingestion of materials with a high content of zinc such as shot pellets as well as from ingestion of galvanized metal from wire mesh cages.
