ENVIRONMENT
20 California condors in Arizona, Utah died from avian flu
May 1, 2023, 2:19 PM
PAGE, AZ - MARCH 22: A mature rare and endangered California condor looks up from a ledge high up a cliff in Marble Gorge, east of Grand Canyon National Park March 22, 2007 west of Page, Arizona. Condor managers taking blood samples from the 57 wild condors in Arizona both before and after hunting season find that all 57 condors test positive for contamination by lead matching the isotropic fingerprint of the lead commonly used in ammunition, and that those levels rise significantly by the end of the season. Many of the condors become so sick that biologists must re-capture them for lead-poisoning treatments. Several condors die each year. Experts believe the condors are ingesting the lead as they scavenge gut piles left behind hunters because lead bullets shatter and fragment inside the kill. Officials in Arizona are encouraging hunters to use copper bullets instead of lead-based ammunition and in California a coalition of conservation groups have sued the California Fish and Game Commission in an effort to force a ban on lead ammunition in Condor ranges. The condors in the Marble Canyon and Vermillion Cliffs area easily fly as far west as Lake Mead, by way of the Grand Canyon, and to Zion National Park and far into Utah. With a wingspan up to nine and a half feet, condors are the largest flying birds in North America. In 1982, when the world population of California condors dropped to only 22 and extinction was believed eminent, biologist captured them and began a captive breeding and release program which has increased the total population to 278, of which 132 now live in the wild in Arizona, California, and Baja California, Mexico. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
(Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
PHOENIX (AP) — Twenty California condors in northern Arizona and southern Utah have died since March and half of the endangered birds tested positive for a strain of avian flu, according to authorities.
Four condors are still receiving supportive care and have shown improvement, but wildlife officials told The Arizona Republic that they’re worried the recent outbreak could potentially spread to other condor populations.
So far, authorities say, the virus hasn’t been detected in the other condor populations in California or Baja California, Mexico.
The Peregrine Fund, a group that manages wild populations of the bird, estimates there are 116 wild condors flying over Arizona and Utah and occupying the landscape within Grand Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, on the Kaibab Plateau and in surrounding areas.
“The condor is slow to mature, taking up to eight years before they can produce young, and with an average of one young every other year, the rate of replacement for a loss in the wild is a big impact,” Chris Parrish, president CEO of the Peregrine Fund, told the Republic. “Given the total number of birds we eventually lose and the age structure of those lost will have a tremendous impact on the recovery effort, likely to take decades.”
DWR confirms contagious avian flu cases in 4 more Utah counties
The California condor has been protected as an endangered species since 1967.
Fewer than 25 condors remained in the wild by 1982 until an effort was launched to capture the remaining birds and start a captive breeding program.
The first condor was released into the wild in 1995 and the first wild-born condor arrived in 2003.
Before the recent string of deaths, the National Park Service said only 334 condors remained in the wild.
According to avian disease experts, it’s likely that migration patterns are aiding the spread of avian flu during this current outbreak.
They said avian flu historically dies out after a season, but this strain has been spreading for a longer period and has affected birds since last spring.
Virologists aren’t sure why the strain is persisting longer than normal, and studies are still underway to understand the cause.
