Calif. Condors Die of West Nile Virus

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

* Plagues, Pestilences and Diseases**

Calif. Condors Die of West Nile Virus*

Thursday July 27, 2006 4:46 AM

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Efforts to save the critically endangered California
condor suffered a minor setback last week when four 3-month-old chicks
died of the West Nile virus, biologists said.

Their demise leaves just eight condor hatchlings at the World Center for
Birds of Prey in Boise, where biologists have been breeding the
federally protected scavengers since 1994.

These are the first condors to die from the mosquito-borne virus at the
center.

Bill Heinrich, the center's species restoration manager, said the deaths
aren't a devastating blow to his $1.3 million annual condor breeding
program. But they mean the facility in 2006 will provide fewer than half
the 20 birds it took last year for release into the wild.

Condors, which have nearly 10-foot wingspans, have been listed as
endangered since 1967. They once ranged from Mexico to Canada, but by
1987, there were just 22 documented birds. The population was decimated
by shooting, lead and pesticide poisoning, and egg collecting.

Today, California condors still number just 299, with 159 in captivity
and 140 in the wild in Arizona, California and Mexico, according to the
Arizona Game and Fish Department. Most Boise-produced condors are sent
to northern Arizona for release.