Zoo begins feathering nest for condors : Ground is broken for new exhibit
JOE MELENDEZ, NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Dignitaries attend a groundbreaking ceremony for the new condor exhibit at the Santa Barbara Zoo on Thursday. Below, Adelina Alva-Padilla, a spiritual leader of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, blesses the site.MIKE ELIASON / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
October 12, 2007 7:43 AM
Plans to create a new home for the endangered California condor took off Thursday with a morning ceremony at the Santa Barbara Zoo.
The new exhibit will be part of a $6 million California Trails complex featuring several endangered species native to the state, specifically from the CentralCoast. Once the complex -- set to open late next year -- is finished, the zoo will become one of only three in the world to display the rare birds.
A member of the California Condor Recovery Program, the zoo sought involvement with the recovery effort in 1998 and officially became a member in September 2002. Today, it participates by providing veterinary, logistical and other support for the condor reintroduction program.
Once so endangered they numbered just 27, efforts to save the condor have increased its population to 145 in captivity and 160 in the wild.
The California condor (Gymnogyps Califorianus) is the largest bird found in North America, with a wingspan that can reach up to 10 feet. Being a vulture, the bird feeds on the remains of dead animals -- which, because of human interference, has led to the lead-poisoning deaths of several condors reintroduced to the wild.
According to a 2006 study titled Ammunition is the Principal Source of Lead Accumulated by California Condors Re-Introduced to the Wild, which was conducted by the Department of Environmental Toxicology and UC Santa Cruz, "Fragments of ammunition in the carcasses of game animals such as deer, elk, and feral pigs not retrieved by hunters or in gut piles left in the field have been considered a plausible source of the lead."
This study led 35th District Assemblyman Pedro Nava, who attended the groundbreaking ceremony, to propose AB 821, the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act, which would ban the use of lead ammunition in condor country.
The bill has been sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for signing. Mr. Nava said Thursday he extended an invitation to the governor to attend the ceremony to sign off on the bill.
"I understand that he has a lot of things that he's thinking about, but for me right now, it's the only thing I'm thinking about," Mr. Nava said.
Opponents, including the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, say the legislation, if passed, could ban hunting and recreational shooting in large areas of the state.
The governor has until Sunday to sign or veto the bills.
Thursday's ceremony was highlighted by a blessing from Adelina Alva-Padilla, a tribal elder, spiritual leader and medicine woman from the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. Ms. Alva-Padilla performed a prayer asking "Grandfather" to bless the land where the birds are going to fly and live and the humans that will watch over them, as she fanned smoke from sacred herbs with a condor wing, an extremely spiritual item for the Chumash.
When the exhibit is completed, up to six birds could be on view in the spacious hilltop aviary with a view to the Santa Ynez Mountains.
The condor exhibit was designed in collaboration with the California Condor Recovery Team, which will determine which birds will come to the zoo based on the needs of the program.