Endangered condors to arrive in Oregon zoo

By The Associated Press

	CHRIS PARISH / AP, 1999 A tagged California condor soars near Page, Ariz. Breeding efforts over the years have increased the condor population to 219.
	E-mail this article Print this article Search archive

PORTLAND — The last time anybody saw a condor in Oregon was in 1904, near Drain.

That will change in two weeks, when a dozen endangered California condors are due to arrive at the Oregon Zoo's condor-breeding operation, a $3 million project that's been two years in the planning.

The breeding site, which won't be open to the public, will be one of just four in the world. Eventually, it will house 16 breeding pairs and could produce about 30 chicks a year. It marks the most ambitious conservation project the Oregon Zoo has undertaken and will increase chances that the species on the brink of extinction 20 years ago can be revived.

In 1982, just 22 California condors were left in the wild. Five years later, biologists captured the remaining birds and started to breed them in captivity. Now, the total is 219: 135 condors live in captivity, and 84 fly free along California's central coast, in Southern California, Arizona and in Baja California.

Planners from the zoo and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had hoped to open the condor site a year ago. But with money hard to come by, it was delayed.

The zoo has raised about $1.35 million of the $3 million it needs to complete the breeding site and pre-release flight pen, to build an on-site veterinary clinic and, finally, to construct a condor exhibit at the zoo in Portland's Washington Park. Tony Vecchio, zoo director, said raising the remaining money will be tough, but he's confident it will come.

Regardless, the condors will come — 11 aboard commercial airliners and one by auto. Six are male and six are female. Some are established breeding pairs. Others will be paired once they arrive in Oregon, and some are younger condors that may not breed for as long as three years.

Zoo officials don't know where condors raised in Oregon might end up. Those decisions will be made by the California Condor Recovery Program, a collaborative effort involving public agencies, private organizations and citizens. The project's immediate goal is to establish a captive population of 150 birds and wild populations in California, Baja and Arizona.

However, Vecchio, the zoo director, and others involved in the project hope to some day include Oregon on that list.

"Biologically it makes sense," Vecchio said. "This is part of their range ... but the recovery team wants us to prove ourselves first."

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company