This week we sit down with a raptor ecologist who is informing the nation through his in depth research regarding the demographic implications of lead poisoning for eagles. Over the past year, his paper has been featured in National Geographic, The New York Times, Popular Science, The Wall Street Journal, and many more. 

Mandela recently collaborated with him on a lead-free ammunition shooting demo in Livingston and they recorded this interview afterwards!

"Demographic implications of lead poisoning for eagles across North America" 



This paper published in Science, which was lead by Dr. Vince Slabe, is the first to show continent-wide demographic consequences of chronic lead poisoning on Bald and Golden Eagles. It was found that nearly half of studied eagles exhibited chronic lead poisoning, and that lead poisoning is a barrier to the growth of eagle populations across North America.

Vince is originally from central Illinois and graduated with a B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the University of Illinois. Shortly after, he travelled west and quickly developed a strong interest in bird research. Vince worked on multiple avian research and monitoring projects in California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Wyoming before completing a Ph.D. at West Virginia University in Forest Resources Science. Vince’s dissertation focused on lead poisoning of bald and golden eagles on a nationwide scale.

At CSG, Vince is focused on running non-lead ammunition programs and studying if the increased use of non-lead ammunition results in reductions of bald and golden eagle mortality. Additionally, he is working on a project studying movements of golden eagles in Alaska. Vince is a member of the Raptor Research Foundation, the Eastern Golden Eagle Working Group, and serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Raptor Research.

Vince and his family live in Montana. When not working, Vince enjoys spending time with his family, floating the river, birding, cross-country skiing, fishing, hunting, biking and listening to Chicago Cubs baseball. 

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