Condor country

<p>The California condor still can be one of the great success stories of endangered species recovery programs.</p><p>With a 9-foot wingspan, the condor is North America's largest soaring bird and one of its oldest. It has survived on this continent since the Pleistocene epoch, but by 1985 the condor was on the brink of extinction with a wild population of just nine birds.</p><p>A captive breeding program involving state and federal agencies, conservation groups and zoos in the United States and Mexico has brought the population back to about 330.</p><p>Almost half of those birds have been released in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Baja California. They can be spotted among the cliffs along the central coast and inland at Pinnacles National Monument.</p><p>The recovery program's goal is to have 450 birds in the wild by 2020, allowing a change in status to threatened under the Endangered Species Act. As such, the California condor would join such iconic success stories as the Yellowstone grizzly bear, the American alligator and the bald eagle, all brought back from near extinction.</p><p>Fears were heightened during this summer's Big Sur fires, which damaged a sanctuary maintained by the Ventana Wildlife Society and forced biologists to evacuate. The fire also displaced 43 birds. But the condors survived, finding fresh air and food on their own.</p><p>Big challenges still remain. The gregarious birds are attracted to people and man-made structures. They perch on power lines, risking electrocution, and soar with hang gliders. They need help nesting and vaccination from West Nile virus.</p><p>Lead poisoning may be the biggest threat. Condors feed on carrion and often ingest lead from carcasses left by hunters.</p><p>A simple fix would be a ban on lead ammunition. But copper ammunition is more expensive, and opponents, including the National Rifle Association, have blocked efforts to pass a ban. A state law prohibiting lead ammunition in condor country is unlikely to be effective.</p><p>Requiring non-lead ammunition is a small price to protect a majestic species that has soared above California for at least 10,000 years. A ban also would protect others. As the American Ornithologists' Union recently concluded in a report on the recovery program: "Removing lead ammunition is not only right for condors, it is right for other scavengers, and it is right for hunters and their families."</p>