The trajectory of the California Condor population curve before any
direct intervention was down, down, down. I see no reason to have hoped
they would have survived until now based on extrapolation.

Gene Hunn.

On Tue, 14 Nov 1995, Don Baccus wrote:

> Scott Ray:
> >However, in practical terms, hasn't it turned out indeed to be
> >"condoricide?" How successful has this plan been to increase the wild
> >population of Condors?
>
> No, the population of condors in the world has increased, so it can't
> be "condoricide", though the lack of condors in the wild is indeed
> very, very sad.
>
> How successful has this plan been? We don't know, yet, do we? Are
> you ready to declare it a failure? I'm not. A potential failure,
> yes.
>
> We also don't know for sure what would've happened if we'd left
> them out. That could've ended in extinction, years ago.
>
> When they brought them in, I was concerned about the fact that
> they were putting all their eggs in one basket. They seemed
> to feel there were only two baskets (all in captivity to maximize
> chances for captive breeding to work, or all in the wild to maximize
> the chance for survival). So, if they'd left them out I would've
> been concerned about them putting all their eggs in that basket.
>
> Mostly I wish much more had been done much, much earlier so that
> the dilema had not arisen.
>
> THAT is the true tradgedy of American Conservation of the condor:
> it took far too long to take action. There were no good choices
> by then, IMO.
>
> And, as far as Steve Herman is concerned, if his preferred choice
> had been followed and the wild population had gone extinct, I
> might well have ended up posting to tweeters "looks like Steve
> was wrong".
>
> But in no circumstance can I imagine equating him with Lt. Calley
> just because his informed, best professional opinion turned out
> to be in error.
>
> So, can we shitcan the name-calling and demonization over this
> issue and either 1) drop it or 2) talk turkey and stick to the
> facts, instead of acting like turkeys?
>
>
> - Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>
>
>
>