Letter to the editor: Let’s get the lead out of Maine wildlife Share This week, members of the Legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee held a public hearing on L.D. 1015, proposed legislation to end the use of ammunition containing lead in hunting our wildlife. Lead is a known toxin, and has already been removed from pipes, various paints and gasoline and a host of other items to protect human health and the environment. Lead-based ammunition is the single largest source of lead knowingly discharged into our environment, environmental health researchers agree. In Maine, our wildlife and waterways are at risk. Ingestion of lead fragments from spent ammunition poisons and causes the suffering of countless wildlife species, who ingest spent lead shot by foraging the ground and feeding on lead-tainted remains of animals left behind in the woods.