3 Condors Released Into the Wild
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PINNACLES NATIONAL MONUMENT, Calif. — Three California condors were released into the wild Saturday in the latest step toward bringing North America’s largest bird back from near extinction.
More than 300 people gathered to watch the condors fly over this isolated wilderness southeast of San Francisco.
Condors once ranged from Mexico to British Columbia. But habitat loss, hunting and poisoning threatened the species, which reached a low of 22 birds nationwide in the 1980s. Today, the wild population is 276.
The condors released Saturday will be monitored to make sure they are roosting high in trees, out of the reach of predators, officials said.
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