Scientists announced that the baby was born on March 28 in
a barren cave in the sanctuary, near Fillmore.
The sanctuary is part of the Hopper Mountain National
Wildlife Refuge Complex.
The chick’s arrival
brings the total wild and captive population of California condors to around
300, up from a near-extinction level in 1982, when the total was 22.
The announcement came hedged with warnings about the new
little one’s chances for survival in the wild.
The sanctuary issued a statement enumerating the dangers
to condor chicks:
First, hatching itself takes days and some chicks do die
in the process.
Next, opportunistic predators such as other birds,
coyotes, bobcats, bears and mountain lions lurk in the vicinity of the condor
habitat.
Worst of all is so-called micro-trash, small bits of
rubbish left in the environment by humans.
According to the scientists, condors are curious by nature
and will pick up bits of glass, wire connectors, pull tabs, metal and plastic
bottle caps, “anything that strikes their fancy.”
A parent bird will take a fragment back to the nest and
feed it to the chick.
Baby birds are omnivorous and will eat the trash. The
result can be the puncturing of organs or severe malnutrition, leading to the
death of the baby condor.
Also of particular concern is lead poisoning. Condors need
only ingest a tiny fragment from a spent lead bullet to suffer ill effects and
death. A bird showing symptoms of lead poisoning can be saved if it is
hospitalized and subjected to a chelating treatment to remove the lead from its
blood.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Condor Recovery program
is in need of volunteers, according to Mike Havstad,
member of Friends of the California Condor.
“We need board members, volunteers to help run activities
and financial support through memberships, fundraisers and grants,” he said.
Meeting and training information can
be obtained by calling 805-644-5185.