Condor Released in Wild Is Shot At but Not Injured

One of the two endangered California condors released into the rugged mountains of Los Padres National Forest in January was shot at three times over the weekend, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday.

The rifle shots missed the large vulture, which was perched on a cliff face 300 feet above a creek bed about 15 miles east of the release site. A suspect is being investigated.

Aside from being flushed from her perch and startled into soaring across a gorge, 15-month-old Xewe (pronounced Gay-Wee) was unharmed, said David Ledig of the Fish and Wildlife Service, assistant project leader for the California condor project.

The other California condor released in January, Chocuyens (Cho Koo Yens), and two Andean condors also set free in the forest this year were not in the area at the time of the Sunday afternoon gunfire, Ledig said.

“We’re relieved that we didn’t lose a bird,” Ledig said. “But it’s really frustrating. We had hoped that it wouldn’t come this soon.”

Because an investigation is ongoing, Ledig said he could not release the exact location of the incident or other details. But Ledig said the suspect is a Los Angeles man who was on a family outing with a group of five to nine people.

The group was spotted walking along a creek bed immediately after the shots were fired, Ledig said. He said a Fish and Wildlife Service biological technician who had been monitoring Xewe noticed that a man in the group carried a rifle.

There have been no arrests or charges filed. After the investigation is complete, it will be up to a U.S. prosecutor to decide whether to pursue the case, said David Klinger, a spokesman with the wildlife service’s regional office in Portland.

Killing or harming a federally designated endangered species is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $100,000 fine.

The two released California condors were raised in captivity and are the pioneers in a $15-million program that scientists hope will re-establish condors in the wild.