ABSTRACT

Denmark has a long hunting tradition and a very high density of hunters. The total annual bag is approximately 2.3

million specimens. More than 90% is harvested by shooting, be that driven shoots of pheasant and mallard, walk-up

shooting of upland game, decoyed waterbirds or open sea motor boating targeted at sea ducks.

In Denmark, the use of lead shot was first regulated in 1985 by setting up a ban on

inter alia

the use of lead shot for

hunting in 26 wetlands designated as Ramsar-sites and for clay pigeon shooting in certain areas. Denmark enforced a

total ban on the use of lead shot in 1993 in all areas outside forests and with a subsequent enforcement of a lead shot

ban in forests in 1996. Since then all use, trade and possession of lead shot has been banned throughout the country

(Kanstrup 2006).

The phase-out of lead shot raised a number of practical and social barriers. The first barrier was connected to the

availability of alternative shot types. Also the quality and efficacy of alternative shot types, safety to hunters, and the risk

of damage to guns andmachinery in the forestry industry, were raised as potential obstructions to the implementation of

the regulation. However, all issues were discussed andmanaged. The hunters’communitymade their own investigations

of the lethality

i.e.

effectiveness of non-lead shot. New guidelines were drawn up to ensure safe hunting practice, and

gunsmiths developed good practice to guide hunters to the appropriate combination of gun, cartridge and shot. Since

the mid-1990s non-lead shot has been available and can be obtained for any hunting purpose in any habitat and with

any type of shotgun. A good deal of focus has been put on the quality of shotgun cartridges, and efficacy of non-lead

types is proven to be comparable or even higher than lead shot.

During the phase-out period many Danish hunters feared that the process would cause a decline in numbers of hunters

and weaken the socio-political power of the hunters’ community. However, today, 30 years after the first regulation

of lead shot and almost 20 years after the total ban, the number of hunters in Denmark is the highest (177,000) since

the registration of hunters was introduced in the 1930s. The annual bag of quarry species has shown a high degree

of fluctuation but a general trend of decline. However, there seems to be no connection between this decline and the

regulation of lead shot since the 1980s. The decline is caused by other regulations of hunting,

e.g.

full protection of

several species, combined with a general population decline in central quarry species

e.g.

upland game.

The Danish example of a total ban on lead shot for hunting has demonstrated that this can be achieved without

jeopardising the hunters’interests and weakening the hunters’community. On the contrary, it is believed, though never

investigated, that the public image value of hunting not being connected to a pollutant such as lead is of paramount

importance for the perception and long-term political sustainability of hunting.

Key words:

social barrier, practical barrier, Denmark, hunting tradition, transition, sustainability of hunting

Practical and social barriers to switching from lead

to non-toxic gunshot – a perspective from the EU

Niels Kanstrup

The Danish Academy of Hunting, Skrejrupvej 31, 8410 Rønde, Denmark

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