Griffon vultures are scavengers, and are therefore highly adept at finding dead animals. Whether it’s a dead sheep, hunted game intestines, or even intact shot game that the hunter was unable to collect because it escaped or was impossible to reach due to terrain.
Griffon vultures are temperamental birds. During feeding they land on the carcass and fight each other for each bite. As they have blunt beaks the start eating from where the carcass is already opened. With shot game this is the wound channel that is created by energy transfer from the hunting bullet to the animal’s body. If the bullet is made of lead, it uncontrollably explodes inside the body. Vultures find these shot animals and consume some of that lead and take some of it to their nest and their young. Lead acutely and chronically poisons birds. It sounds brutal but that is the exact way that one of the biggest threats to griffon vultures, and the number 1 threat to white-tailed eagles and golden eagles works – lead poisoning from hunting ammo!
This was the topic of the lead free ammo workshop that was held in Kampor hunting lodge on island Rab on 6th November 2025. During the workshop we presented the LIFE SUPport project and previous actions to distribute lead free ammo to the hunting community in the project area of Kvarner islands.
On this occasion bloodwork analysis of Kvarner griffon vultures was presented and it indicated a high level of lead in the environment. Dr.med.vet Vedran Slijepčević (DVM), expert in the field of hunting I veterinary science, and an experienced hunter himself, spoke on the harmfulness of lead and benefits of using lead free ammo as well as its practical uses. Test results of lead free ammo on Krk, Cres, and Učka show more than 95% of hunters are satisfied with lead free ammo.
As part of the workshop 19 hunters from hunting associations “Kunić” Rab and “Golub” Kampor-Rab who have not used lead free ammo until now were also included in the ongoing testing, which brings the total number of hunters taking part in the lead free ammo testing within the project to 148.
