U.S. Can Capture Condors to Save Species, Court Holds

A federal appeals court, rejecting arguments from environmentalists, ruled today that government wildlife officials may capture wild California condors in an effort to save the rare species from extinction.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia lifted an injunction that had stopped the Fish and Wildlife Service from bringing the birds in from the wild.

“We believe the wildlife service’s decision to capture the remaining wild condors was manifestly defensible,” the court said in an unsigned opinion.

The injunction against capturing the condors was granted earlier this year by a federal district court in a suit filed by the National Audubon Society, which argued that some condors need to remain in their natural habitat--the rugged mountains north of Los Angeles--until more is known about the effects of captivity.

The California condor is the largest winged creature in North America. Only 27 are alive today. When the case began, all but six of the birds were kept in zoos in Los Angeles and San Diego as part of a breeding program designed to ensure their survival.

The major cause of the flock’s steady decline has been lead poisoning when the birds feed on the carcasses of animals shot by hunters.