Condor Chicks to Soar in the Wild in October : Captive breeding: Controversial program has brought the species back from the brink of extinction. Last bird was captured in 1987.

After nearly a decade in protective custody, the endangered California condor--which once ranged across the North American continent--will be returned to the wild in October, a team of scientists announced Friday.

Hoinewut and Chocuyens, two condor chicks from the Los Angeles Zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park respectively, will be 6 months old when airlifted into the rugged Sespe wilderness of Los Padres National Forest in Ventura County, 75 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

By December, four years after the last of the wild condors was captured, the chicks should be ready to spread their wings and reclaim the skies their ancestors flew for thousands of years.

The release of two chicks, whose wingspans will reach 10 feet, will mark a turning point in a long, costly and controversial captive breeding program to save the bird from extinction.

Despite vociferous protests from some environmental groups, the last of 27 wild California condors was captured in 1987 to save their dwindling numbers from being shot by hunters or poisoned by eating game killed by lead ammunition.

While in captivity, their numbers have grown to 52. In the last year, 13 California condors have hatched, although one died last week at the Los Angeles Zoo. The program has cost an estimated $10 million over the past decade.

It has been known for months that the condors would be released this fall. Nonetheless, Friday’s announcement at the prehistoric tar pits at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History was dramatic.

“By the end of this year we expect that America’s largest soaring bird will once again grace the skies of California,” Marvin Plenert, Pacific regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, told a news conference.

Plenert warned that the release would not be without risk. “Frankly, we’ll be taking a gamble,” he said. “The chance of losing a young condor, faced with the uncertainties of life in the wild, are extremely high.”

The decision, recommended by a condor recovery team led by Lloyd Kiff of the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History, represented a personal as well as scientific triumph for the Los Angeles Zoo, San Diego Wild Animal Park and other advocates of captive breeding.

The condor program is viewed by many as a forerunner of efforts to save endangered species.

To acclimate the birds to their new surroundings, they will be kept in a covered roost at the Arundell Cliffs release site for several months and monitored by scientists. Later, they will be allowed to fly freely. Scientists hope that carcasses placed near the chicks will keep them from straying too far.

If all goes well, the two California condors, which will be accompanied by two Andean condors, next year will be joined by four to six chicks. Scientists said it will be decades before they know if they have succeeded in bringing the condor back from the brink. In the meantime, the loss of one or two birds would not be a major setback.

Ultimately, they hope to see three separate California condor populations of 100 birds each thriving in the wilderness of Los Padres National Forest, the Southwest and one other undecided location. For the foreseeable future, a reserve of condors also will be held in captivity.