2 Men Accused of Trying to Shoot California Condor

A federal grand jury has indicted two Long Beach men for allegedly attempting to shoot one of the endangered California condors released into Los Padres National Forest as part of a $15-million project to save the birds from extinction.

Cesario Quinteros Campos, 32, was arrested Wednesday at his home by U.S. Fish and Wildlife agents. He and Ricardo Contreras Tirado, 23, were charged Tuesday with firing a .22-caliber rifle last July 19 at the bird known as Xewe (pronounced Gay-wee ), said Assistant U.S. Atty. Patricia A. Beaman in Los Angeles.

Tirado, also charged with being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm, is still at large.

The maximum penalty for shooting at an endangered species, a misdemeanor, is up to one year in prison and a $50,000 fine. The maximum penalty for an alien possessing a firearm, a felony, is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Beaman refused to comment on why it took almost eight months for the men to be charged.

“It was under investigation--that’s all I can say,” she said. Grand jury matters are secret, she said.

Three shots were fired at Xewe as she was perched on a cliff face 300 feet above a creek bed 15 miles northeast of Fillmore. The bird, which was not injured, was flushed from her perch. The vulture is now about 2 years old and weighs about 19 pounds, with a nine-foot wingspan.

As part of the condor protection program, a biological technician with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was monitoring the bird when the shots were fired. He confronted the two men and notified authorities, said Robert Mesta, the condor program coordinator for the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Beaman said she believes that the men knew they were shooting at a condor, although legally it doesn’t matter whether they knew it was endangered or not, she said.

She said she knew of no other cases where someone had been prosecuted for shooting at a condor.

Xewe is one of only 63 California condors known to be alive, she said. The bird was one of two condors released into the Sespe Condor Sanctuary north of Fillmore in January, 1992, after being raised in captivity as part of a program to save the species.

The other condor, a male named Chocuyens (pronounced Cho-KOO-yenz ) was found dead in October. Toxicology tests confirmed that he died of kidney failure after drinking ethylene glycol, a fluid used in antifreeze. Xewe has since been joined by six other condors released through the program.