GRIFFITH PARK - Los Angeles Zoo keepers Mike Clark and Debbie Ciani closely monitor dozens of endangered California condors.
But there was something odd about condor No. 245 - a wild bird brought into the zoo's sick bay last month. While others eagerly scarfed dead rats and rabbits, she shied away from the meat.
"When she got here, she was a little depressed, wasn't eating very well ... and never really recovered her appetite before she died," said Clark, who has cared for condors for 18 years at the zoo and in the wild.
Condor No. 245, which died last week at the Gottlieb Animal Health and Conservation Center, was an apparent victim of lead poisoning. Of 17 wild condors treated at the zoo this year, nine were treated for dangerous levels of the heavy metal, zoo officials said.
The culprit, studies show, is lead fragments from bullets that poison birds who dine on gut piles or carcasses left by hunters. Some can't eat. Some are unable to stand. Some die.
State officials concerned about the fate of the world's last 144 wild condors will consider two measures next week to compel hunters to use lead-free rounds.
On Monday, the state Fish and Game Commission will hold a special session to discuss getting the lead out of big-game hunting in condor country from Big Sur to Ventura County.
Next week, the state Senate is expected to consider a bill, AB 821, that would restrict the use of lead ammunition.
"We've taken the lead out of gas and paint. The nation is in an uproar over imported Chinese toys with lead paint. There's no question that lead in the environment is toxic," said Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, author of the Condor Protection Act, which has already passed the Assembly.
"For these birds, it's a death sentence. The science and the momentum is on our side."
The pink-headed condor - one of two New World vultures and the largest land-based bird in the Americas - once spread its nearly 10-foot wingspan to cruise California coastal mountains in search of carrion.
But a century of egg collecting, hunting, habitat loss, pesticides and lead poisoning eventually took its toll.
Breeding program
In the early 1980s, the world's last 23 condors were rounded up to become part of a captive-breeding program at the Los Angeles and San Diego zoos, among others.
Of the 145 condors since released into the wild, at least five reportedly have died from lead poisoning. By last summer, 26 had received emergency therapy to reduce blood-lead levels.
Condor No. 245, trapped at Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Kern County, had a blood-lead level more than 500 times what veterinarians consider safe.
Condor No. 242, now in quarantine at the Los Angeles Zoo after being treated for even greater amounts of lead, is scheduled to be released this week.
"The passing of condor No. 245 is tragic," Glenn Olson, executive director of Audubon California, said in a statement. "Lead poisoning is a tremendous threat to these remarkable birds.
"With only 300 condors in the world, to lose even one bird is a setback for this important conservation program and a severe threat to the entire species."
Of the 144 condors flying in the wild, 71 ply the rugged coast of California, 57 inhabit the Grand Canyon in Arizona and 16 soar over Baja California, Mexico.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which spends $900,000 a year on condor preservation, estimates that up to $40 million has been spent to save the species.
Lead ammunition
In some areas, condors are fed stillborn calves to discourage them from ever biting the bullet.
The agency has advised hunters to remove, bury or hide shot carcasses or gut piles away from scavenging birds such as condors, eagles and turkey vultures.
The U.S. Department of Defense is in the process of switching to nontoxic bullets for military training and firing ranges to protect wildlife.
"All the evidence is there to support that the lead is caused by lead ammunition, but there is continuing research into other sources of lead in the environment," said Jesse Grantham, coordinator for condor recovery for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The National Rifle Association, which has fought legislation on lead-free ammunition, did not respond to a request for comment.
Lead ammo for a 30-06 hunting rifle can run up to $41 for 20 rounds. A similar box of lead-free ammo at a gun shop in Reseda sells for $57.
Some gun specialists didn't think big-game hunters fired enough lead to damage the environment.
"This is political," said Ted Szajer of L.A. Guns in West Hollywood. "It has nothing to do with reality. It has nothing to do with lead bullets."
The Los Angeles Zoo, which has two 40-foot-high condor-breeding aviaries off limits to the public and the press, monitors 30 adults and their chicks through a bank of video cameras.
In one screen sits two empty-nesters, in another sits Topa Topa, the zoo's 41-year-old veteran male who is considered the oldest condor in the world.
"This is a mom. She just fed her baby. She's 3 months old," said Ciani, using a joystick to toggle between breeding birds. "We do this because we can't go in with them because the chicks won't be used to people."
While condors in the wild produce one large egg every other year, the zoo's seven condor keepers have managed to encourage up to three eggs a year per pair.
Since its breeding program began in 1988, the L.A. Zoo has hatched 120 condors, releasing most into the wild.
dana.bartholomew@dailynews.com
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