Two scientific papers published in 2025 confirm the danger of lead bullets for carnivores. One paper published by Dr. Catherine Hauw and colleagues described the death of a cheetah after ingesting a lead bullet, while the other presented the results of an MSc study that showed elevated levels of lead in captive cheetahs and wild leopards in Namibia. The toxicity of lead is well known and documented for animals and humans, but the specific role that lead bullets play in poisoning mammals is less well explored. Until now, most studies have focused on the impact of lead ammunition on scavenging birds, such as California condors, Old World vultures, and eagles. We now have evidence that African predators that eat meat containing lead bullets and fragments are susceptible to lead poisoning.