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ADOPT A CONDOR - DONATE TO THE VENTANA WILDLIFE SOCIETY NOW! A New Condor Family Tree This past Easter millions of people celebrated a holiday of rebirth and redemption. In a small cave in Monterey County’s Ventana Wilderness, a pair of California condors had a rebirth of their own to celebrate. Their first chick hatched that day, making it the first newly-hatched condor in Ventana in over one hundred years. It is also the newest addition to a prominent condor family that has had to overcome long odds and a near-death experience caused by lead poisoning. The mother of the young condor is a strong-willed but even-tempered bird designated as #208 (newly released condors are given numbers instead of names). Her family history is strong; her father, Topa-Topa, is the oldest known living condor at 41 years of age and her mother, Malibu, is one of the Los Angeles Zoos most highly-prized breeding condors. On May 14, 1999, #208 hatched at the zoo. Eight months later she was released into the wild. Sadly, her freedom did not last. Since she is a scavenger, 208 often fed on the remains of deer and other large game shot by hunters. These carcasses contain deadly fragments of lead from the bullets used to kill them. By November of 2005, during the condor’s breeding season, the lead levels in 208’s blood were so high that her life was in imminent danger. Without intensive therapy, she would have died. After being taken back to the L.A. Zoo, 208 underwent a taxing regimen of chelation therapy to remove the lead from her blood and veterinary care to rehabilitate her. For an entire month, she was injected with chemicals twice a day. The treatment was successful, and 208 flew away again the next January. The experience she had to endure, however, was both stressful to her and costly to her caretakers. 208’s ordeal also took a toll on her mate, #168. Condors mate for life, and they need daily contact with their mates to maintain their important lifelong relationship. 208’s long convalescence threatened to tear the couple apart. It also postponed their successful breeding by a year. 168 has overcome adversity as well. He hatched at the San Diego Zoo on May 9, 1997. His mother was Sespe, another genetically valuable condor, but a pair of Andean condor foster parents raised him at the L.A. Zoo. Early in life a severe beak injury threatened to prevent his release into the wild, but by January 19, 1999 he was healthy enough to fly free. 168 has also had trouble with lead in his bloodstream, but fortunately his level of exposure has not yet put his life in danger. Their story of triumph against overwhelming odds makes the new chick all the more remarkable. The nesting site is located in a small cave on a massive cliff and the chick stays hidden deep inside to protect itself from potential predators like Golden Eagles. In part because of this seclusion, scientists have not yet verified whether the chick is male or female. It will live with its parents for the next year and a half, which means that these condors will not be able to breed again until at least 2009. But this year, as 208 and 168 near their eighth and tenth birthdays respectively, they have another reason to celebrate. We need to do what we can to help this young bird live in a lead-free world so that it can grow up safe and strong. It is the beginning of a new generation of condors raised in the wild to soar high above California. That ideal will only become a reality if we ensure that no other condors have to undergo the terrible tribulation that 208 faced. Please help keep ammunition lead free so that this young condor can survive. Adopt a Condor - Donate To the Ventana Wildlife Society Now! |
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