Red kites — successfully reintroduced across the UK — continue to suffer high rates of lead poisoning from ingesting ammunition fragments in shot game, representing a preventable welfare crisis.
Lead poisoning in red kites causes prolonged and severe suffering. Affected birds lose muscle coordination, become unable to fly, and experience convulsions before death. Rehabilitation of lead-poisoned kites requires chelation therapy and intensive care, with unpredictable outcomes. Because lead is persistent in the environment and scavenged carcasses serve as point sources of contamination, the problem is systemic rather than individual. The transition to lead-free ammunition by UK shooters is technically feasible and increasingly practised voluntarily, but voluntary uptake has been slow. Mandatory phase-out legislation would eliminate the largest single source of preventable lead poisoning in UK raptors.