California Condor
Wild Capture, Captive-rearing, and Study of "Surrogates"
Today,
The Peregrine Fund plays a central role in perhaps its biggest
challenge ever: rearing and releasing of California Condors. Following
the species' century-long population collapse, all 21 remaining wild
individuals of this magnificent bird were captured during the
mid-1980s.
The goals of the capture were twofold:
First, it had become clear that these final survivors would remain alive only if they were medically treated for lead poisoning and sheltered from additional lead exposure.
Second, with some luck and considerable effort, they could become a nucleus for a captive-breeding program designed to bolster the total population size.
Successful programs were launched at the Los Angeles Zoo and the San
Diego Wild Animal Park. With condor numbers beginning to increase,
these two programs were augmented by the World Center of Birds of Prey
in 1994. Today the total population of California Condors exceeds 150,
and all three institutions cooperatively maintain a joint studbook to
ensure the maximum amount of genetic crossbreeding among their birds.
Multiple releases, however, have demonstrated that the problems
plaguing the species before the mid-1980s continue. Deaths still occur
from power-line collisions, illegal shooting, and environmental
poisoning, especially (once again) from lead. To this day, although a
wild population of up to several dozen condors has been created in
southern California and northern Arizona, the population suffers far
too high a mortality rate to sustain itself without regular
augmentation from the captive-rearing programs.
The long-term challenges will be to concentrate release programs in the
biggest wilderness areas available within the birds' former range, and
to train young condors to avoid the most human-modified habitats.