Abstract

Relevant data on trace elements and toxic metals in game meat make it possible to monitor chemical pollution, as well as to detect risks to human and animal health.
The authors used atomic absorption spectrometry to study iron, copper, zinc, lead, and cadmium in the skeletal muscles, liver, and kidneys of mountain hares (Lepus timidus L.) (n = 107). The animals were caught during two seasons on reference sites and technogenic territories in the northern Krasnoyarsk Region.
The samples obtained from the hares that lived on the reference sites had a much lower content of toxic metals. The tissues that belonged to the hares from the polluted habitats contained more lead and cadmium while the samples from the reference sites demonstrated traces of such biogenic elements as copper, zinc, and iron. The differences may be associated with the antagonism of biogenic elements and toxic metals in the body. The correlations between various metals probably meant that they came from one and the same pollution source.
The levels of cadmium and lead in the samples from the technogenic areas were not hazardous to animal health. However, their meat and liver were unfit to eat. Therefore, hunting in the areas of technogenic pollution can pose a toxic hazard to indigenous hunters and their families.

Keywords

Lepus timidus, mountain hare, hunting, game meat, pollution, ecotoxicology, trace elements, heavy metals, lead, cadmium, mercury

Contribution

All the authors contributed equally to the study and bear equal responsibility for information published in this article.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this article.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors express their sincere gratitude to indigenous hunters A.N. Betu, N.N. Porotov, and Z.I. Veselovskaya, as well as the team of the Reference Center of the Krasnoyarsk Federal Rosselkhoznadzor Service, who helped to process the biological material.

FUNDING

The research was conducted on the premises of the Professor Zhitkov Russian Research Institute of Game Management and Fur Farming (VNIIOZ) as part of the State Task on Scientific Foundations for Sustainable Use, Assessment, Monitoring, and Forecasting Biological Resources of the Hunting Industry (No. FNWS-2022-0001), Fundamental Research Program through 2021–2030, Decree No. 3684-r of the Government of the Russian Federation, December 31, 2020.

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