Secondary poisoning from lead ammunition and anticoagulant rodenticides causes widespread, underrecognized welfare harm to wildlife including raptors and carnivores.
Lead poisoning from ingested ammunition fragments causes progressive neurological deterioration: impaired flight, inability to regulate temperature, loss of coordination, and eventual death over days to weeks. It is a prolonged and distressing death for affected birds. Anticoagulant rodenticide poisoning causes internal bleeding over days. Both forms of secondary poisoning are entirely preventable through alternatives, representing needless welfare harm at significant scale.