Rarest of Rare, Free-Born Condor Killed by Poacher

One of the last California condors born in the wild was killed by a poacher in Kern County, officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday.

The condor known as AC-8 was a matriarch of the federal government’s $35-million captive-breeding program. AC-8, who was at least 30 years old, produced a dozen offspring during her 14 years in captivity and had been returned to the wild in April 2000 to serve as a mentor for younger, captivity-bred condors released into the wild, said Marc Weitzel, project leader for the California Condor Recovery Program.

Federal agents asked for the public’s help in finding the poacher and offered a “substantial” reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. AC-8 was found dead Feb. 13 in a remote area of southern Kern County, officials said. A necropsy determined she died from a gunshot.

AC-8 was among nine original condors captured in 1986 in a last-ditch effort to save the species from extinction. At one point, there were only 22 condors left in the world.

“She was a very high-profile bird,” Weitzel said. “She was one of the last original condors. Now there’s eight.”

But Weitzel and other conservationists said that while the death of AC-8 was a blow, it would only strengthen their effort to save the species.

Only 79 condors remain in the wild, including AC-9, one of the original nine and AC-8’s former breeding mate. Another 118 are in captivity at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the Los Angeles Zoo.

“Mortalities are part of the program,” Weitzel said. “We’ve had them in the past and we’ll have them in the future. It makes us that much more intent to follow through.”

Calling the condor shooting a senseless act, Gov. Gray Davis joined U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton on Thursday in condemning the crime and urging the public to help find the poacher.

“This tragedy reminds us of the need to protect our threatened and endangered species and keep alive the natural legacy we will be handing on to our children,” Davis said in a statement.

Condors are protected by the federal Endangered Species Act. Violators face a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a fine of $100,000.

A state biologist said it would be difficult to confuse AC-8 with any other type of bird, except perhaps a bald eagle or a turkey vulture, which are also protected by federal law. She weighed at least 20 pounds and had a 9-foot wingspan.

Although five condors have been shot in the last five years, including three in Arizona, only one person has been convicted, said Mike Stockton, an agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Perhaps the greatest legacy AC-8 leaves is the genetic material she imparted to her 15 offspring -- 12 born in captivity and three from eggs produced in the wild before her capture, said Ron Jurek, a wildlife biologist for the California Department of Fish and Game.

“It was just the variety of her genes and the characteristics of the population in her genes,” he said. “When the population got low, any loss of a bird may have caused the loss of unique genes that weren’t shared by others. With extremely careful breeding and a lot of very detailed decision-making, the loss of one bird isn’t the loss of all the representation.”

AC-8 was so valued that when she passed her prime reproductive years she was chosen by conservationists to teach younger condors how to survive in the wild, Jurek said. Conservationists hoped she would impart to other birds such behaviors as feeding, flying into new areas and perhaps breeding.