hello tweets,

i thought you all might be interested to read this sad story
about the female california condor, AC-8, who was illegally killed
in california.

regards,

Devorah A. N. Bennu, PhD
email:nyneve at amnh.org or nyneve at myUW.net
work page http://research.amnh.org/ornithology/personnel/bennu.htm
personal pages http://research.amnh.org/users/nyneve/

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http://www.bakersfield.com/top/story/2877468p-2913703c.html

The Bakersfield Californian:
Officials Probing Slaying Of Condor

By STEVE E. SWENSON, Californian staff writer
e-mail: mailto:sswenson at bakersfield.com

Tuesday April 01, 2003, 11:06:21 PM

Federal prosecutors are reviewing a criminal case against a
suspect in the shooting death of an endangered California condor,
officials confirmed Tuesday.

The condor was found Feb. 13 within the Tejon Ranch, officials
said. Satellite and radio transmitters on the bird were used to
find it, officials said.

A Tehachapi man who is reportedly a suspect in the shooting
referred comment Tuesday to his attorney, who then declined comment.
Because the man has not been arrested or charged in the case, his
name is not being used in this story.

Tejon Ranch runs a number of hunting programs on it huge, 270,000
acre holdings, but it isn't clear if the suspect was part of an
organized or authorized outing. A criminal investigation by the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service has been given to the U.S. Attorney's
Office in Fresno, but no decision has been made on whether to file
criminal charges, Fish and Wildlife investigator Brett Dickerson
said.

Dickerson said he could not say anything more about the matter.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan B. Conklin in Fresno said he could
not comment on any case under review. Previously, officials have
refused to say where the condor, known as AC-8 (adult condor-8),
was found.

But now that the investigation is in the hands of federal
prosecutors, Hopper Mountain Refuge Manager Mark Hall for the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed that he found the dead bird after
entering the Tejon Ranch east of Grapevine.

Hall said it took him and a ranch employee about an hour after
entering the ranch property to find the carcass.

Tejon Ranch General Counsel Dennis Mullins said Tuesday that there
is an ongoing investigation into the shooting of AC-8, and he would
not comment at all on that matter. He said he would not confirm any
information about where the bird was found.

He said generally, however, "We think the shooting of a condor is
a terrible act. We hope the individual is arrested, indicted and
brought to justice."

AC-8, believed to be more than 30 years old, was the last female
condor to be trapped. She was captured in 1986 and released back to
the wild after 1992.

The bird had a satellite transmitter which was tracked at least
daily, and a radio transmitter that was tracked by government
biologists near it in the wild, Hall said. It was because there was
no detectable movement by the bird in three days, that Hall went out
looking for it, he said.

The satellite transmitter, which operates through NASA, gives a
generalized location of the bird, he said. Once trackers are near
the bird, radio transmitters can be used to pinpoint its specific
location, he said. Hall said he didn't know the exact location of
where the bird was found except that it was east of the Grapevine
in the mountains on Tejon Ranch property.

The ranch has a variety of hunting programs, Mullins said. They
are closely coordinated with the state Department of Fish and
Game.

He noted that licensed hunters know what they can and cannot kill.

Illegal hunting, including trespassing, occurs on the sprawling
ranch, he said. Despite efforts to stop it, it is more typical that
illegal hunting activity is discovered after it has occurred, but
when it is discovered as it happens, the ranch recommends arrest and
prosecution, Mullins said.He noted that the ranch area includes 51
parcels of land which are privately owned and completely surrounded
by ranch property.

The circumstances of how AC-8 was killed were not disclosed, and
officials would not comment on various reports of how it happened.

Violation of the Federal Endangered Species Act carries a maximum
penalty of one year in jail and a $100,000 fine.

If the shooter thought he was killing a buzzard such as a turkey
vulture, that is also illegal under the migratory bird act,
officials said.

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