California Condor.Photo: Weili Li/ Getty
Conservation plans for theCalifornia condorhave taken an exciting new turn.Although still consideredcritically endangered, the California condor population hascontinued to rise over the years. Now, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services are hoping torelease a small number of condorsinto Northern California’s Redwood National Park every year.The initiative’s aim, which could begin as early as this upcoming fall, is to create a “nonessential experimental population” in the Pacific Northwest — where the birds haven’t lived in the wild for a century.According to theSan Francisco Chronicle, the project plans to release four to six juvenile condors annually over the next 20 years.
“Certainly within a year, we hope to have birds in the sky,” Tiana Williams-Claussen, director of the wildlife department of the Yurok tribe, which is leading the project, told the newspaper.
“The California condor is a shining example of how a species can be brought back from the brink of extinction through the power of partnerships,” Paul Souza, Regional Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s California-Great Basin Region, said in apress release.
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Extreme conservation efforts first went underway in the 1980s, as scientists found there were only 23 California condors left in the wild. By the end of the decade, the remaining birds were captured and placed into captive breeding programs.
The first condor chick hatched in 1988. Currently, there are over 300 California condors in the wild.
source: people.com
