3rd Condor Dies in Wild After Accident

For the third time in nine months, an endangered California condor from the Sespe Condor Sanctuary has been killed accidentally by a man-made hazard, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported Monday.

A year-old female condor named Hutash, Chumash for Earth , died from internal injuries after either flying into a power line or being hit by a car near California 126, east of Fillmore, at dusk Friday.

The death occurred in the same area where another year-old female condor was electrocuted in late May after its huge wingspan created a link between two high-voltage lines.

Hutash died after suffering muscle trauma and hemorrhaging in her upper left wing, according to San Diego Zoo pathologist Bruce Rideout, who examined the bird.

“It looks like the death was due to trauma complicated by shock,” Rideout said. “The big question now, and what we’re still trying to figure out, is whether it ran into the power line or was hit by a car.”

Of the eight condors released into the Sespe Condor Sanctuary since January, 1992, five survive. A third condor was killed near Pyramid Lake in October after ingesting antifreeze that had been dumped on the ground.

To avoid more mishaps, wildlife officials plan to capture the surviving birds in the sanctuary within the next several months and relocate them about 30 miles to the northwest to the more remote San Rafael Wilderness in Santa Barbara County.

“There is a strong need to start releasing the birds into more isolated spots,” said Marc Weitzel, director of the California Condor Recovery Program. “The potential for collisions with power lines is an ongoing issue and we expect to lose more birds in the future.”

In the meantime, wildlife officials are considering installing anti-perching barriers on power lines and sending out high-pitched tones to discourage the birds from straying into heavily populated areas.

Furthermore, a group of energy companies has mounted a $400,000 effort over the past two years to bury 1.6 miles of power lines near the Sespe Condor Sanctuary to protect the birds.

“They have this curiosity phase they seem to go through,” Weitzel said. “Our presence out there is to try to minimize their exposure to these hazards.”

Another possible factor in the high death rate among the condors is the lack of guidance from older, more experienced birds, Weitzel said. Before they became endangered, condors had a life span of 30 to 40 years. The oldest condor in the Sespe is about 2.

Meanwhile, early Friday morning a condor chick hatched at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, keeping the number of California condors at 76. All but the Sespe’s five birds are in zoos, half at the Wild Animal Park and half at the Los Angeles Zoo.