Condor Released After 22 Days in Treatment Facility for Lead Toxicosis

[Image from the Yurok Tribe]

Earlier this week, the Northern California Condor Restoration Program (NCCRP) re-released condor A9 back into the wild after the two-and-a-half-year-old bird spent 22 days at the Sequoia Park Zoo’s Condor Care Facility, where he received multiple rounds of chelation therapy for extremely elevated blood lead levels.

Thankfully, A9 is exhibiting all the signs of a healthy condor despite the intensive treatment for lead poisoning. Initially released on October 4, A9 ingested carrion tainted with the toxic metal after spending only two weeks in the wild. A9 is one of only 18 free-flying condors in Northern California.

“It almost seems inevitable that we will lose a bird or birds to lead poisoning if nothing changes,” said Northern California Condor Restoration Program Manager and Yurok Wildlife Department Senior Biologist Chris West. “The use of lead ammunition for dispatching wild or domesticated animals poses a serious threat to our new flock. In addition to condors, lead also presents a grave risk to eagles and other raptors.”

Although it is not yet confirmed, A9 likely consumed lead-tainted carrion from unlawfully shot big game or livestock, feral or farmed. In effect since 2019, California Assembly Bill 711 prohibits the use of lead ammunition “when taking all wildlife including game mammals, game birds, nongame birds, and nongame mammals with any firearm” in the state of California. The NCCRP sent a sample of A9’s blood to a UC Santa Cruz laboratory to verify the lead source.

The program discovered A9’s elevated lead level during its annual fall health check and immediately administered chelation therapy before transporting the bird to the Condor Care Facility in Eureka. Sequoia Park Zoo veterinarians administered three rounds of the chemical solution and intravenous fluids before the lead in A9’s blood dropped to a safer level. Eight other condors had the toxin in their blood but not enough to require treatment.

“I would like to thank the Sequoia Park Zoo team for taking excellent care of A9,” West said. “The zoo has been an amazing partner since we released the first birds in 2022.”

Chelation therapy involves the administration of fluids and injection of Calcium EDTA, which binds to the soft, toxic metal. The drugs and high levels of fluids allow the toxin to pass naturally through the condor’s liver and kidneys with minimal damage. Although effective at eliminating lead from condor’s blood, chelation drugs are hard on the bird’s organs. Continued treatment for lead poisoning can have long-tern negative effects on condor health.

A9 is the second condor to encounter a potentially fatal dose of lead in the last two years. During the 2023 fall health check, NCCRP staff observed life-threatening blood lead levels in condor A6 (Me-new-kwek’, “I am bashful or shy”) after he consumed part of an illegally killed elk in the Bald Hills area of Redwood National Park.

The NCCRP conducts biannual health checks on all birds in large part to prevent mortalities from lead exposure. Lead is the single biggest threat to condors in the wild and is responsible for nearly half of released condor mortalities where the cause of death is determined. Almost all poisonings are linked to carrion from lead-shot game, livestock, and vermin.

A substantive amount of the condor crews’ time is focused on lead management, including removing lead-shot animal remains from the landscape, radiographing potentially tainted wild food items, and engaging in non-lead ammunition outreach. Over the last decade, NCCRP met with hunting and shooting groups from Northern California to Southern Oregon to inform their members about the harmful effects of lead.

Lead ammunition was likely the driving force behind the initial decline of the overall condor population in North America. In 1982, only 22 California condors survived worldwide. By 1987, all remaining wild condors were placed into a captive breeding program to save the species from extinction. Currently, there are approximately 350 condors in the wild and another 220 in captivity.

The NCCRP plans to release one condor cohort per year for the next two decades at a minimum. The primary goal of the reintroduction effort is to establish a self-sustaining population of condors in Northern California and Southern Oregon, the center of the bird’s historical range.

The NCCRP is a partnership between the Yurok Tribe and Redwood National and State Parks. To learn more, please visit https://www.yuroktribe.org/yurok-condor-restoration-program