Condors die due to lead poinsoning

May 23, 2013

The Peregrine Fund says lead poisoning killed four of the eight California condors that died last winter in Arizona and Utah. Arizona Public Radio’s Terry Ward reports…

Condors encounter lead when they eat animals that have been shot with lead bullets. The Idaho-based Peregrine Fund says the death of two other condors likely was caused by a predator late last year. Arizona is trying to reduce the number of lead poisoning cases by providing vouchers for lead-free bullets and other rewards for hunters who dispose of carcasses that contain lead properly. Administrators with the Peregrine Fund say 72 condors currently fly in a range that stretches from Arizona's Grand Canyon to southern Utah's Zion National Park. There were just 22 condors when a program was started in 1996 to save the endangered species from extinction.