Three rare California condors, two of which spent a great deal of time foraging in southern Utah, died recently due to lead poisoning. These are the first confirmed lead poisoning deaths in three years.
According to The Peregrine Fund, necropsies to determine the cause of death were performed at the San Diego Zoo's Institute for Conservation Research. Testing there confirmed the presence of lead fragments in the digestive tracts of all three birds. Lead shuts down the condor's digestive system which leads to starvation, weakness and death.
Two birds, a chick and her mother, were found in the Grand Canyon and the third near the Utah-Arizona border, according to Chris Parish, head of The Peregrine Fund's condor recovery program Monday. Parish said the two adults had spent most of their time in southern Utah.
Since condors feed on dead carrion, Parish said they sometimes ingest lead from animals or the remains of animals shot by hunters. Arizona has worked in recent years to convince hunters in the northern part of that state to use lead-free shot in the field and has even gone so far as to provide boxes of free non-toxic ammunition.;
Utah has started a similar volunteer program in the South Zion hunting unit where condors introduced on the Arizona side of the border of the two states have frequented in recent years.
"We've started educating our hunters about the effect that lead ammunition has on condors," said Jim Parrish, non-game avian coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. "The next thing we are going to do is give everyone who hunts on the Zion unit a coupon for a free box of lead-free ammunition. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel, so we are modeling the Utah program after Arizona's non-lead effort."
The Peregrine Fund's Parish said that since the education and free ammunition program was started in 2003 in Arizona, over 80 percent of northern Arizona hunters have voluntarily participated in the nontoxic shot program.
"Any time we lose one it is a big deal," said Parish. "We track each one of these individual birds. The fact that we are able to recover these birds and the cause of death could be determined is a huge benefit to figuring out what is going on with the birds."
Vanishing » By 1982, just 22 California Condors remained on Earth. Captive breeding programs were established in the 1980s. Before reintroduction, the last wild condor in Arizona was sighted just south of the Grand Canyon in 1924.
Wild » California Condors now live in the wild in Arizona, Utah, California and Mexico. There are now 74 condors in Arizona and Utah.
Largest flying bird » The condor is the largest flying land bird in North America. The birds can weigh up to 26 pounds and have a wingspan up to 9½ feet.
Few eggs » Condors reach maturity at about six years of age. They usually produce one egg every other year.
Sightings » Visitors at the Grand Canyon and Vermilion Cliffs may be able to observe the birds, especially during the spring and summer.
Source: The Peregrine Fund
