California condor  (Gymnogyps californianus)

The original decline of the California condor followed the extinction of many large mammals in North America (5). Despite legal protection since 1900 (10), the 20th Century decline was due to human induced pressures such as trapping, shooting, egg collecting and lead poisoning following ingestion of carcasses killed with lead shot (3). Unfortunately lead poisoning still occurs regularly and remains the condor's greatest threat; other current threats include collisions with power lines, shooting, and both deliberate and accidental poisoning (12).

Towards the end of the 1980s, with only eight individuals left in the wild, it was clear that the extinction of this bird was imminent. The remaining wild individuals were taken into captivity and incorporated into an intensive conservation breeding programme run by San Diego Wild Animal Park, Los Angeles Zoo and The Peregrine Fund (13). A variety of techniques were used in the breeding programme including double-clutching and the rearing of chicks with hand puppets, and in 1992 the first condors were released back into the wild (14). Numerous hurdles have had to be overcome, not least teaching captive birds to avoid power cables, but in the spring of 2002 the first wild condor chick for two decades hatched (13). The rescue of the Californian condor is an ongoing conservation programme but the successes so far have been inspiring and the population continues to climb (8); today the condor can once again be seen soaring over the rocky Californian landscape.