Condor Eggs Laid at Animal Park, L.A. Zoo, Boosting Release Hopes

Keepers removed an egg from a pair of the nearly extinct California condor in the San Diego Wild Animal Park and another from mates in the Los Angeles Zoo on Saturday, boosting hopes the birds could be freed from captivity this year.

“It’s significant for us because it’s really early in the season,” said Mike Wallace, Los Angeles Zoo bird curator and condor program director.

Caretakers discovered the eggs while monitoring the nests via closed circuit TV. Laid hours apart, the eggs are the first clutch of 1991.

Keepers removed eggs from parents Anyapa and Kaweah in Los Angeles and AC-8 and AC-5 in San Diego. They said the move may prompt the birds to lay as many as three eggs in a season.

“If we get a lot of production out of the pairs . . . there’s a good chance” for release, said Tom Hanscom, Wild Animal Park spokesman.

This year, with the good omen of the early eggs, keepers hope to release some young birds back into the wild by autumn.

“We have a lot of pairs looking very good, so we’re hoping for a good season,” Wallace said.

The San Diego egg had a one-eighth-inch hole where shell did not form. Zookeepers sealed the hole with a dab of glue before placing it in an incubator.

The off-white eggs should hatch in 56 days.

California condors are believed to be extinct in the wild, the last survivors brought into captivity in 1987. Since 1988, Wallace said, 12 condors have been born in captivity, and all have survived.

There are 19 of the endangered birds in Los Angeles and 21 in San Diego.