Californians bite bullet to save condor

by ryan | September 15, 2007 at 11:07 am

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Californian law makers are taking significant steps to prevent the potential extinction of the Condor. The law will actually protect the condor indirectly by outlawing the use of lead tipped bullets for hunting big game. When an animal is shot with a lead tipped bullet the carcass becomes tainted with lead and is poisonous to the condors which feed on it.

The California state legislature has backed a bill to ban game hunters from using lead bullets in the birds' range, and only a veto by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger can prevent the measure from becoming law.

Lead poisoning from carcasses tainted with fragments of bullets or shot is the main threat to the survival of the condor (Gymnogyps californianus), which has clawed its way back from the brink thanks to a successful captive breeding programme (New Scientist, 28 February, p 14). Last week, the California senate passed the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act, which will require hunters to use non-lead ammunition for hunting big game and coyotes in central and southern California.