The majestic bird was trapped by L.A Zoo wildlife biologists in Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge and given two drugs in an effort to flush the lead out of its blood. The bird's death came as the California State Senate considered a bill that could decide the fate of the condors.
"We're already at 147 free-flying condors so the loss of even one is a tragedy," said Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, who introduced the bill that would ban the use of lead-based ammunition in California condor habitat. A final vote on the measure is expected this week.
Assembly Bill 821 would protect the fragile and artificially sustained California condor population from lead poisoning, contracted by ingesting bullet fragments left in carcasses and gut piles. Opponents see it as a disguised attack on the Second Amendment rights of hunters and a threat to the hunting industry.
The legislation would require big-game hunters to use non-lead ammunition in California Condor habitat, stretching from the Antelope Valley to Monterey Bay and home to 74 free-flying birds..
This week, on its third attempt to pass through the state Senate, Nava's bill seems likely to receive the simple majority vote and be enacted by July 1, 2008. The measure, approved by the state Assembly on a 42-32 vote in May, was inspired by a similar ban at Tejon Ranch, a 270,000-acre privately owned ranch in the Tehachapi Mountains, that hosts the state's largest hunting program.
"I have no desire to interfere with (hunting), I just think it can be done in a way that does not kill this signature species for California," said Nava about the need to eliminate lead bullets and thus lead poisoning, which is the biggest threat to free-flying California condors.
The death of No. 245 also turned out to be an opportunity to raise awareness about the endangered carrion feeder, which has a wingspan of up to nine feet. This year, at least three out of nine deaths of wild California Condors have been attributed to lead poisoning, according to Audubon California. Because of the low amounts of calcium in their carnivore diet, California condors eat bones and often mistakenly ingest hard objects such as lead bullet fragments.
Wildlife biologists and numerous environmental groups alike, argue that lead poisoning is the most preventable threat to the California condor and that a lead ban is needed to safeguard the birds.
Organizations such as the National Rifle Association, along with firearms manufacturers, retailers, and hunting groups, oppose a ban, calling it a radical step to save a small bird population and based on "hypothetical evidence" that does not concretely link lead bullets and lead-poisoning.
"We could never support a ban on ammunition that is not supported by sound science," said NRA spokesperson Rachel Parsons.
"I think that (the NRA) are acting more out of fear than reason," Nava said. "We know that lead ammunition is the single cause of lead poisoning in condors, so it makes sense to ban the use of lead ammunition in condor country."
Despite a perceived lack of hard evidence, the NRA is supportive of outreach initiatives like Project Gut Pile that acknowledges the dangers lead pose to condors, said Parsons. Both sides agree that educational campaigns like the one by the California Department of Fish, which educates hunters about the effects of lead-based ammunition, are essential to any effort to save the condors.
"Hunters should be encouraged and made aware that there are voluntary things that they can do, such as burying their gut piles or removing their game from the field," said Parsons, whose organization favors educating over regulating hunters.
The California Department of Fish and Game have also opposed to the ban, saying that enforcing the law, writing $500 fines to hunters in the field who fail to comply, would be both too costly and practically difficult. The law calls for regulating the sales of ammunition but does not address enforcement in the field or how much such a personnel intensive effort would cost.
The bill calls for the Fish and Wildlife Commission to start a coupon program that, if funding is available, would give hunters discounted or free non-lead ammunition.
A box of copper bullets, which are the best available non-lead alternatives, cost only about $5 to $10 more than lead-bullets and the price is not as big of an issue as availability and a lack of certain calibers, said Brendon Preston, general manager of Second Amendment Sports, a hunting supply store in Bakersfield.
Firearms retailers are opposing the ban, saying that it cost them business and inconvenience hunters because the market for lead-free bullets is undeveloped. Barnes Bullets is currently the sole manufacturer of copper bullets offering only four different calibers, while one more company has announced it would produce a lead-free alternative, said Preston.
"Ammunition makes up millions of dollars of our annual business," said Preston. "If they went all lead-free bullets, it would reduce [ammunition choices] to six or seven from thousands, which then in turn would affect ammunition sales."
Supporters of the bill point out that copper bullets shoot just as well if not better than lead bullets and that increased demand will expand the market for lead-free alternatives.
In the early 1980s, the last 23 remaining California Condors were caught and became the basis for a captive breeding program that has since increased the population to about 306 birds, 159 of which are kept in captivity, including 26 at the L.A. Zoo. The population goal of the Condor Recovery Program is to have populations of 150 birds in California, Arizona and Baja, Mexico.
"The captive breeding program has been a much bigger success than anyone expected," said Gary Langham, director of bird conservation for Audubon California.
California condors, North America's biggest birds, continue to face high mortality when released into the wild. Slow reproduction rates, with wild birds hatching only one egg less than once a year, human encroachment on condor habitats and electrocution by power lines, are the main mortality factors in addition to lead poisoning.
Field biologists use radio transmitters to closely monitor the small population of free-flying condor which, in addition to 74 birds in California, includes 57 in Arizona and 16 in Baja California. The computerized system tracks condor movements and helps field biologists trap the birds at least once a year to conduct blood tests and replace transmitter batteries.
"We're hoping that (the Senate) will do the right thing and call for a ban," said Langham. "What we are really asking for is a switch from one bullet to another that shoots the same."
Originally published in Los Angeles CityBeat on 08/30/2007
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