SREL Reprint #2251

Metal Levels in mourning doves from South Carolina: potential hazards to doves and hunters

Joanna Burger1, Robert A. Kennamer2, I. Lehr Brisbin, Jr.2, and Michael Gochfeld3

1Nelson Biological Laboratories and Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI),
Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854-8082
2Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, P.O. Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29802
3Environmental and Community Medicine and EOHSI, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School,
Piscataway, New Jersey 08855-1179

Abstract: Most game birds are found in lower trophic levels, but since such birds are harvested and consumed by humans, there is a particular need to assess their contaminant levels. In this paper, we report concentrations of mercury, lead, cadmium, selenium, manganese, and chromium in the breast feathers, liver, and muscle of mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) collected at a partially drawn-down, contaminated reactor-cooling reservoir (Par Pond) on the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site in South Carolina and at nearby agricultural fields managed as dove hunting areas. We test the hypothesis that the levels in doves are not harmful to either dove populations or humans. We also tested the simultaneous effects of collection location, year (1992, 1993), and dove age-class (hatch-year vs after hatch-year) on heavy metal and selenium levels. For all three tissues, mercury levels were nondetectable at all locations. Lead was highest in tissues from agricultural fields with prior histories of dove hunting activities. Doves at those fields were likely ingesting lead shot to a greater degree than at the recently drawn-down reservoir which was closed to public access and hunting. For other metals, Par Pond doves had equally high or higher tissue levels. For all metals, levels in doves from South Carolina were generally within the lower range of those reported in the literature, suggesting that these metals were likely to pose no health problems to these doves. Except for lead and selenium, metal levels in dove muscle that we observed were well below reference metal doses established for human intake. Lead and selenium, at the levels described here, would only be a problem if a child (not an adult) ate 120 g of dove meat every day of the year. Thus, we conclude that meat from these doves, if consumed by hunters, would not pose a risk.

SREL Reprint #2251

Burger, J., R.A. Kennamer, I.L. Brisbin, Jr., and M. Gochfeld. 1997. Metal Levels in mourning doves from South Carolina: potential hazards to doves and hunters. Environmental Research 75:173-186.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).