Condors Get Protection from Lead

Hopper Mtn NWR

Restoring the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) to the wild has been an intensive, decades long effort. The first generation of wild condors are now taking to the skies above California [photo] and our friend Gov. Jerry Brown helped to keep them flying. He signed historic legislation last month that requires hunters to use lead-free ammunition, the last source of unregulated lead in California's environment. The danger to wild birds from lead has been known since the 19th Century, but it was not until 1991 that the federal government banned the use of lead shot for waterfowl hunting. Audubon California joined the fight to ban lead when research showed that lead poisoning was the greatest threat to restoring the California Condor. In 1987 all twenty-two remaining wild condors were captured and a captive breeding program begun. This conservation project may be one of the most expensive ever undertaken for a single species, costing over $35 million since WWII (in contrast, a single nuclear submarine cost $2.6 billion to build) Today there are perhaps 435 living condors, 237 living in the wild, and 198 in captivity, making it one of the rarest bird species in the world. Lead poisoning is particularly a problem for the scavenger due to its extremely strong digestive juices which can dissolve bone as well as lead pellets embedded in a carcass.  Golden and Bald eagles also are threatened by consumption of lead ammunition.  Lead in wild game poses a problem for human consumption too. Although voters favored the legislation by a 2:1 margin the bill faced stiff opposition from the gun lobby. Assembly Bill 711 requires a gradual phase out of lead ammunition through 2019.