Evacuated condors get a new home
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As Tony Perry reports from San Diego, five candors evacuated from a breeding facility destroyed by last fall’s wildfires are settling into their new home at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park.
Athena, an Andean, was first to return, followed by Apollo, her mate. Their offspring, as yet unnamed, appeared to be a bit overwhelmed by the experience and preferred to wait until the human beings were not watching so closely. But before long Monday morning, all five condors -- three Andeans and two Californians named Simerrye and Ojja -- had settled into the newly rebuilt breeding facility at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park. A year ago today, zookeepers had to evacuate the condors as the Witch fire moved relentlessly through the dry grass of the San Pasqual Valley. ‘I didn’t believe it was happening,’ said condor keeper Sheila Murphy. ‘I could see the glow coming up over the mountain.’ Within hours of the condors’ evacuation, the breeding facility was destroyed by fire. In all, 600 acres of the park burned, although only two residents -- a clapper rail bird and a wild ass -- were lost. The condors have spent the last year in a smaller, less commodious facility in another part of the park.
That’s Apollo, above left, and his mate, Athena, inside the aviary. Read Tony Perry’s full report and see the photo gallery by Irfan Khan.
The Wild Animal Park also is involved in efforts to rebuild a condor sanctuary devastated by a wildfire this year in Big Sur.
-- Steve Padilla
