Condor biologists at the Pinnacles National Monument and Ventana
Wildlife Society evacuated a wild condor chick May 12 after
discovering the bird had been exposed to lead.
”
Both the chick and the male are doing better,
”
said Carl Brenner, the chief of interpretation and education at
Pinnacles National Monument, May 19.
”
They are at the L.A. Zoo and their blood levels are
dropping.
”
Brenner said both birds would need to have much lower levels of
lead in their blood before they can be released back into the
wild.
Condor biologists at the Pinnacles National Monument and Ventana Wildlife Society evacuated a wild condor chick May 12 after discovering the bird had been exposed to lead.
“Both the chick and the male are doing better,” said Carl Brenner, the chief of interpretation and education at Pinnacles National Monument, May 19. “They are at the L.A. Zoo and their blood levels are dropping.”
Brenner said both birds would need to have much lower levels of lead in their blood before they can be released back into the wild.
Scientists first discovered the level of leads when they were tracking the health of the nestling. The biologists trapped the male parent, condor 318, and discovered it also had toxic levels of lead in its blood.
The chick has not left the nest yet so its exposure to lead has been from food its parents have brought back to it in the nest.
“It is still a concern,” Brenner said. “We continue to treat condors with high lead levels. It is more of a concern than just for condors because a lot of other raptors eat carrion. Condors are just the most publicly identified.”
The adult condor was immediately taken to the Los Angeles Zoo for chelation, a treatment to remove lead from the body, while the 50-day old chick was treated by veterinarians and condor biologists in the nest during early morning climbs into the rocky cliff cavern.
Although the adult female continued to care for the young bird while the nestling received several emergency chelation treatments and hydrating fluid injections, the young condor’s health degraded further. As a result, biologists decided to evacuate the bird to intensive care on May 12.
Biologists working at Pinnacles National Monument are still trying to catch the female bird of the pair to test her lead level, but the bird has been “a little more savvy” at avoiding capture, Brenner said.
Hundreds of park visitors over the past two months were able to witness an active condor nest in the wild. The nest is the first inside Pinnacles National Monument since re-establishment efforts began there in 2003 and it is the first documented nest in the park in more than 100 years.
Staff will keep the temporary closure area around the nest until biologists can determine whether the nestling can be returned to the wild.
