Condor May Be Returned to the Wild This Year

The California condor will very likely be returned to the wild in Ventura County this fall, nearly a decade after the launching of a last-ditch and much-criticized breeding program to save the majestic bird from extinction.

Lloyd Kiff, an ornithologist who heads the condor recovery team, said in an interview that the scientific team will vote on Friday and “certainly recommend a release” of two to three zoo-born condors to Los Padres National Forest. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has the final say, is expected to concur, Kiff and other wildlife officials said.

“Timing is imperative that we do a release right now to keep momentum up,” said Kiff, acting curator of ornithology at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. “Otherwise, the integrity of the program, including funding, might break down, and that would have a bigger impact on the species than losing a bird out there.”

The long-awaited reintroduction will come as much as two years ahead of schedule, giving the condor program a public relations boost to sustain its nearly $1 million-a-year budget, half of which is funded by the federal government.

Besides attracting money for the species, a successful reintroduction would give the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service added ammunition in defending the Endangered Species Act. The embattled law is up for reauthorization in Congress next year in the midst of strong criticism from economic interests at odds with protecting wildlife at industry’s expense.

“As we go into that reauthorization process next year, we may have the California condor as an example of what can be done,” said Fish and Wildlife spokesman David Klinger.

But scientists say the release also is justified on biological grounds or it would not be attempted. Since the last of the huge birds was brought into captivity in 1987, the condor population has increased from 27 to 53 at the Los Angeles and San Diego zoos.

Kiff said geneticists have told the condor recovery team they would have preferred to have six offspring for each “founder” or genetic line in captivity before releasing birds to the wild. Chicks that are the least distinct genetically are considered the most expendable and will be chosen for release.

“But in this first year, if we have to take the sixth bird and release it, we will do it. . . ,” Kiff said. “We are still pretty well buffered, genetically, whatever we decide to release this year.”

The goal of the recovery program is to have two, geographically separate condor populations with 100 birds each in the wild and a third one in captivity, which could take another 20 years. As breeding continues in the zoos, more and more condors will be released each year.

Klinger said the Pacific regional office of the Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the condor program, will “look very strongly at supporting” the team’s recommendation. But the regional office will consult officials in the service’s Washington headquarters before making the final decision this summer.

“This would rival any recovery project we have ever attempted. . . ,” said Klinger, the regional spokesman. “A lot of people said the bird would never reproduce in captivity, that the intent was to relegate them to zoo specimens. We have proven that to be false.”

Fish and Wildlife Service biologists have been preparing for the reintroduction by releasing captive-bred Andean condors, a close relative of the California bird that also is endangered but still numbers in the thousands.

Michael Wallace, curator of birds at the Los Angeles Zoo and a condor team member, said that it costs $250,000 a year to keep the Andeans in the Los Padres National Forest, a price that might be difficult to justify if the California condor release were delayed another year.

Reintroductions work best when birds are returned to the wild in groups, so scientists plan to release at least one Andean chick along with the California birds. There already are four Andeans in the forest, and officials hope they will become surrogate parents to the younger birds, showing them the best places to roost and find water.

So far, the record of the Andeans has proved heartening to the California condor team. Twelve of 13 birds released survived. One Andean was killed when it crashed into a telephone wire. Another bird died in transit to the release site.

Another Andean was discovered to be too tame and was returned to captivity. It had a preference for sitting by the side of Angeles Crest Highway.

“You can’t have a bird with a 10-foot wingspan sitting by the side of the road,” Kiff said. “It freaks people out.”

Officials expect the condor chicks will be taken to the release site--a cliff in the Sespe Condor Sanctuary--by helicopter at night in October or November. The 4-month-old birds will be placed in a pen intended to resemble a cave until they are 6 months old, the age at which the birds leave their nest.

A protective net will be removed, probably in December or January, and the birds will make their first attempts at flying. The Andeans will be removed when their California cousins are about 6 years old, which is mating age.

Around-the-clock observers will be placed at a hidden location near the condors to prevent bears from entering the release site, which will be partially enclosed with electric fences, and to monitor the birds’ activity. The observers could be there for years.

Condors are scavengers that feed on dead animals, and poisoning by lead shot in carrion is believed to be one of the reasons the bird nearly became extinct. Lead shot is still legal, and because of the risks of ingesting contaminated food, lead-free carcasses will be provided indefinitely for the condors in the wild, officials said.

Environmental groups, some of which had opposed removing the condors to the zoos, strongly praised the pending decision to release birds.

The National Audubon Society, which filed suit to block the removal of birds, would “probably not” have objected if it could have foreseen the results of the breeding program.

“The goals of the project got muddled in the controversy,” said Jesse Grantham, a biologist with the group. “What we found out is that everybody pretty much had the same goals in the long run. It’s just how you got there.”

Environmental groups had feared that condor habitat would be developed once the birds were removed. Although there were several proposals to develop parts of the condor range in the bird’s absence, all were fought off, according to Mark Palmer of the Sierra Club.

Kiff is hopeful that the release will inspire a private foundation to set up a fund to ensure continued financial support for the birds, which have become a flagship for the U. S. endangered species program.

“Government can’t stay in a big, expensive program for one species like this indefinitely,” he said.

Although the condor is not out of danger, it will be decades before scientists know whether inbreeding weakened the species--the release will mark an important milestone in endangered species protection.

“It’s not our intention to sell (reintroduction) as a sure thing,” Kilinger said. “It’s a risk. We’ll be taking some chances. But we think we have the expertise under our belt to bring it off successfully.”