By: Kristina Busch
As the whitetail deer hunting season winds down in Minnesota, more sick eagles than ever are turning up throughout the state.
While lead ammunition from hunters can be blamed on part of the increase, experts are unsure of the cause of the increase in injured and sick eagles.
For unknown reasons, Julia Ponder, executive director of the University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center, said the rate of injured eagles started to rise before the hunting season began.
There is normally an increase in injured eagles during deer hunting season and a month or two after, she said