By NOAKI SCHWARTZ, Associated Press Writer, June 3, 2008
LOS ANGELES – Seven endangered California condors — about 20 percent of Southern California’s population — have been found with lead poisoning. The birds started turning up sick about a month ago during random trappings at Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge in the San Joaquin Valley. One of the birds died during treatment at the Los Angeles Zoo and four others are still being treated there. A chick and its mother were sent to the zoo to undergo treatment.
Officials don’t yet know the source of the contamination, but a U.S. Fish and Wildlife official said the birds were likely poisoned by eating the carcasses of animals that had been shot by hunters.