CTV has announced that their investigative t.v. series entitled, “W-Five”, has investigated instances in British Columbia and Washington state where Trumpeter Swans are dying at alarming rates. Their website shares that,

“A new “W-Five Presents” documentary, “Mystery of the Toxic Swans” reveals that lead shotgun pellets are the culprit and that they are dangerously impacting the swans’ natural habitat.” Entire Article Here

The show will be premiering Saturday, January 24 at 7 p.m. ET on CTV. If I can find someone with cable I am going to try and tune in. As a hunter, my thoughts on this range from, “Let’s make sure this stops.” to “What kind of slant is being used here to make an issue of something that is not.”. I have to admit, anytime I watch W-Five (which is not often), I am always skeptical about what they say. They tend to ‘leave out’ certain points of information that might make their arguement less convincing. The way the show ‘investigated’ chiropractic treatment lead me to believe that they tend to be far from neutral on the ‘facts’ they present.

That being said, the questions I would ask about this would be:

• How good is the ‘science’ of the forensic teams that have collected their data. I am not saying that it is bad, just that was it peer reviewed?
• Does the data actually conclude that the lead poisoning IS from shotgun pellets or are the lakes in regions in areas where heavy metals are present in eroding soils. Are there industries  in the area that use lake water for their production?
•  Is this a recent trend? Hunting has been occurring for hundreds of years. Why now? Use of  steel shot has been law for 10 years  – this should have a positive effect.
• What information are they leaving out?

However, if this really is happening how can we stop it, clean it up? I believe hunters need to step up to the plate on this one and take ownership of a solution. I wonder how this pint-sized hunting blogger could make a difference?

Regardless of your answer or lack therof – try to watch the show.

Canada Hunting News, CTV, Duck Hunting, trumpeter swan