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May 26, 2022

Anna Murray 

According to a study of 25 Nile crocodiles in Lake St. Lucia, a World Heritage site in South Africa, the ingestion of fishing weights resulted in the highest lead concentrations "ever reported for crocodilians worldwide," and the lead poisoning — caused by the animals scooping up stones from the lake floor to aid digestion — prompted anemia in several of the crocodiles as well as serious tooth loss.

The study's authors pointed out that the lead came from lead-based fishing weights. Other lead products, such as bullets, have been found to be harmful to wildlife, and actions to minimize lead contamination in wildlife have aided populations.

Professor Marc Humphries of the University of the Witwatersrand's Environmental Geochemistry Lab, one of the paper's authors, claims that conservation authorities in the country must lead movements away from using leaded fishing tackle in order to reduce risks to wildlife and human health.