3 Released Condors Include Bird Captured in 1986

Three California condors were released Tuesday in the Ventura County back country, which the species had inhabited until being driven from the wild 14 years ago, when it appeared headed for extinction.

Although the three birds are but a small addition to the 57 other condors living wild across the West, their return to the wilderness marked an important milestone for the endangered species.

It was from the Los Padres National Forest near Fillmore that an adult female condor was removed in 1986, the last free creature of the handful of the giant birds that remained on the planet at that time. Known as Adult Condor 8, or AC-8, she lived in zoos in San Diego and Los Angeles counties, where she was a prolific egg layer in the program to raise condors in captivity for eventual reintroduction to their native habitat. She stopped producing eggs five years ago, so scientists decided to set her free.

She was released with two young condors in the hope that she can serve as a mentor to keep the young birds out of trouble. Said Marc Weitzel, project leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Ventura, “It fulfills a long-term objective to put out some of these old birds to act as mentors. Condors function better in a social group.”