Condor found dead from gunshot wound in Central California: ‘It’s despicable’

Federal officials are offering a $5,000 reward for information about the fatal shooting of a California condor in Central California.

The giant, critically endangered bird was found dead in July 2022 on private property directly off Lone Tree Road in Hollister, located northeast of Salinas in San Benito County, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department said in a Sept. 5 news release.

The agency’s Wildlife Forensics Laboratory “conducted a necropsy and determined the cause of death to be trauma from a gunshot wound,” the release said.

Known as No. 972, the 3-year-old male condor was released at Pinnacles National Park in February 2021.

“It’s despicable that anyone would shoot a condor as there is no justifiable reason to do so,” Kelly Sorenson, executive director of the Ventana Wildlife Society, wrote in an email.

Sorenson said there have been 13 known shooting deaths of condors since 1992.

California condor population ‘imperiled’

California condors have been listed on the Endangered Species Act since 1967.

Thanks to efforts such as the California Condor Recovery Program, the number of condors in the wild has risen from about 23 birds in the 1980s to more than 300 today.

Of those condors, 93 are flying free in Central California. That number includes those released by the Ventana Wildlife Society from San Simeon, Big Sur and Pinnacles.

Another 214 condors are currently in captive breeding programs, and will be released in the future.

Joanne Gilkeson, Fish and Wildlife public affairs officer, describing the state of the California condor population as “imperiled”

With “just 300 birds in the wild,” she said, “the loss of any individual is significant.”

Asked why Fish and Wildlife waited 13 months to publicly disclose the fatal shooting of No. 972, Gilkeson said that the service does not release information during an ongoing criminal investigation.

“Over the last year our Office of Law Enforcement was gathering all information, following up on leads and assessing what information is appropriate to make public,” she wrote in an email. “By making this information public, (Fish and Wildlife) hopes someone will come forward and share information that could result in the resolution of this case.”

Killing condors is illegal

California condors are protected under the Endangered Species Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which means taking, shooting, injuring or killing a condor is illegal.

The maximum penalty for a criminal violation of the Endangered Species Act is one year in jail and a $100,000 fine for a person and $200,000 for an organization, the release said.

The maximum penalty for violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act ranges from six months to one year in jail and up to $250,000 in fines.

Anyone with information regarding the death of No. 972 is asked to call Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Law Enforcement in Sacramento at 916-569-8478.

You can also email Special Agent Victoria Van Duzer at victoria_vanduzer@dws.gov.

For information on the California Condor Recovery Program, contact the Ventana Wildlife Society at ventanaws.org.