A critically endangered California condor that was born and raised in captivity was shot and killed in March northeast of Lewis in Montezuma County, near Cortez.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are now asking for help in solving the poaching case.
Condor No. 1061 was born in the Oregon Zoo in 2021, said Tim Hauck, the California condor program director at the Peregrine Fund, which manages the Southwest’s condor flock. The female bird was released in Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in Northern Arizona on Sept. 24, 2022.
“She was doing a great job of just being a California condor,” Hauck said. “She was exploring the northern Arizona, southern Utah region of the Condor range. … She had it all figured out. She knew how to find food on her own, she knew how to roost on her own and she certainly knew how to fly.”
CPW was notified that condor 1061 had entered Colorado in March, spokesman John Livingston said. A few hours later, FWS asked the agency to dispatch an officer because the tracking device on the bird had stopped moving and there was concern about her well-being. The wildlife officer discovered the carcass and secured the scene until federal officials could arrive.
California condors are considered critically endangered – just 560 were estimated to be alive as of late 2022, of which only about 350 live in the wild.
Colorado is not generally part of the California condor’s range, however this is not the first time a condor has made its way toward Cortez. In 2015, a wandering bird that had been feared dead popped up near Dolores, thrilling viewers. “Nate,” as the condor was named, showed up again in 2019.
Subadult birds, like condor 1061, sometimes take big flights and go explore out-of-range areas.
“This is not uncommon,” Hauck said. “We have a handful of these, usually one a year or so.”
The FWS is the lead agency investigating the death and did not respond a request for comment. The agency, working with CPW, kept the death under wraps as it investigated over the last five months. However, previous leads have failed to yield results.
Condors are protected under the Endangered Species Act, meaning it is illegal for anyone to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or collect California condors. According to a new release, anyone involved in killing the bird could face a third-degree felony charge of wanton destruction of protected wildlife, with a maximum fine of $5,000, restitution of $1,500 and a five-year prison sentence.
Exactly how this bird, with nearly a 10-foot wingspan, was shot remains unknown.
“They’re really recognizable at a close range,” Hauk said. “At a distance, they can be confused with golden eagles or turkey vultures.”
Tips can be submitted to Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s Game Thief Hotline at (877) COLO-OGT (1-877-265-6648) or game.thief@state.co.us. Tips can also be submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tip line at (844) 397-8477 or online.
“A lot of times, these poaching cases are solved with a tip from the public,” Livingston said. “… If folks have just been unsure of how to come forward, (we) just want them to know that we’re out there, as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.”
Requests for confidentiality will be respected and a reward may be available to anyone providing information that leads to a successful prosecution of the responsible parties.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
