The first condor chick hatched at Pinnacles National Monument
has been transported from the park due to high levels of lead in
its blood, according to a statement from Pinnacles.
The first condor chick hatched at Pinnacles National Monument has been transported from the park due to high levels of lead in its blood, according to a statement from Pinnacles.
Biologists at Pinnacles National Monument and the Ventana Wilderness Society discovered last week the 50-day-old chick had extremely high levels of lead in its blood. They also transported the parent male to the Los Angeles Zoo after realizing it had high levels of lead as well.
The adult condor immediately was taken to the zoo for chelation – a treatment to remove lead from the body – while veterinarians and condor biologists initially treated the chick in the nest during early morning climbs into the rocky cliff cavern, according to Pinnacles. The younger condor’s health degraded further, though, forcing a transfer for that bird as well.
The statement goes on to note how National Park Service and Ventana Wildlife Society biologists are trying to trap the adult female of this pair to determine if she too has been exposed to lead.
The condor nest was the first inside Pinnacles National Monument since the re-establishment efforts for the species began there in 2003.
Last year marked the first in which a Pinnacles-released condor nested. Condor 313 paired with Condor 303 who laid an egg in a rocky outcrop at the RS Bar Guest Ranch in southern San Benito County. Although Condor 303 died before her nestling took his first flight, the juvenile survived and continues to fly over San Benito County.
