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Two condors shot in Big Sur region
Jim Matthews, Outdoors News Service (ONS) Outdoor News Service
9 April 2009
Two critically endangered California condors have been found shot in the Big Sur region of California's Central Coast. While both are likely to survive, it is possible neither will ever live in the wild again because of their injuries.
Three weeks after finding an adult male condor with 15 shotgun pellets lodged in its body, biologists at the Ventana Wildlife Society found three lead pellets in a juvenile female after it was trapped for routine blood testing on March 26. Besides the injuries from the lead shotgun pellets, both birds apparently had high levels of lead in their blood.
Condors are particularly susceptible to lead poisoning, which they are presumed to get from the ingestion of lead fragments when feeding on the gutpiles and carcasses of hunter-shot game. But California mandated the use of non-lead ammunition in all condor range in July, 2008, and the Department of Fish and Game reports that hunter compliance has been extremely high.
During the Feb. 5 Commission meeting, the DFG told commissioners that around 6,500 hunters in the lead exclusion zones were contacted by wardens during this past hunting season. Only 72 of the 6,500 contacted were not in compliance with the new regulation requiring non-lead ammunition, a 99 percent compliance rate. So there is concern that someone might be intentionally trying to poison and shoot the condors.
The DFG and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages endangered species, point out that anyone caught harassing or killing condors face stiff state and federal penalties for violation of the Endangered Species Act.
Typically, hunters have a strong conservation ethic and do not randomly or intentionally harm protected species," said Dr. Eric Loft, California Department of Fish and Game Wildlife Branch chief. "Any information about these shootings will help us prosecute for this egregious crime and will further protect this rare California species."
A reward of $30,000 has been offered by environmental groups for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the shootings.
Although both wounded condors are still alive, it remains unclear whether either would be able to return to the wild. The first bird found shot is still in critical condition with an incapacitated digestive tract due to lead poisoning. The condor remains alive only because veterinarians have been able to nourish him with a feeding tube. While the prognosis for second condor is better, one shotgun pellet has impacted a bone in the left wing and it is unclear whether there will be long-term impairment of her ability to fly.
The California condor is one of the most critically endangered species on the planet, but a long-term recovery effort is slowing succeeding. The population has grown from a low of just 22 birds in 1982 to a total of 320 birds today, with wild populations in California, Arizona and northern Mexico.
Jim Matthews, Outdoors News Service (ONS) Outdoor News Service
9 April 2009
Two critically endangered California condors have been found shot in the Big Sur region of California's Central Coast. While both are likely to survive, it is possible neither will ever live in the wild again because of their injuries.
Three weeks after finding an adult male condor with 15 shotgun pellets lodged in its body, biologists at the Ventana Wildlife Society found three lead pellets in a juvenile female after it was trapped for routine blood testing on March 26. Besides the injuries from the lead shotgun pellets, both birds apparently had high levels of lead in their blood.
Condors are particularly susceptible to lead poisoning, which they are presumed to get from the ingestion of lead fragments when feeding on the gutpiles and carcasses of hunter-shot game. But California mandated the use of non-lead ammunition in all condor range in July, 2008, and the Department of Fish and Game reports that hunter compliance has been extremely high.
During the Feb. 5 Commission meeting, the DFG told commissioners that around 6,500 hunters in the lead exclusion zones were contacted by wardens during this past hunting season. Only 72 of the 6,500 contacted were not in compliance with the new regulation requiring non-lead ammunition, a 99 percent compliance rate. So there is concern that someone might be intentionally trying to poison and shoot the condors.
The DFG and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages endangered species, point out that anyone caught harassing or killing condors face stiff state and federal penalties for violation of the Endangered Species Act.
Typically, hunters have a strong conservation ethic and do not randomly or intentionally harm protected species," said Dr. Eric Loft, California Department of Fish and Game Wildlife Branch chief. "Any information about these shootings will help us prosecute for this egregious crime and will further protect this rare California species."
A reward of $30,000 has been offered by environmental groups for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the shootings.
Although both wounded condors are still alive, it remains unclear whether either would be able to return to the wild. The first bird found shot is still in critical condition with an incapacitated digestive tract due to lead poisoning. The condor remains alive only because veterinarians have been able to nourish him with a feeding tube. While the prognosis for second condor is better, one shotgun pellet has impacted a bone in the left wing and it is unclear whether there will be long-term impairment of her ability to fly.
The California condor is one of the most critically endangered species on the planet, but a long-term recovery effort is slowing succeeding. The population has grown from a low of just 22 birds in 1982 to a total of 320 birds today, with wild populations in California, Arizona and northern Mexico.
