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A Lead-free Salvo
Found in: | Outside | Birding | Hunting | Rifle | Wildlife |
It came over us like an airplane, and it appeared about as big as one, too. Our climbing team was first alerted to the condor's presence by a wide shadow skimming the slopes of Mt. Illimani, a huge and snowy 21,000-footer in Bolivia.
Looking up from where we were also treated to a distant view of La Paz, Bolivia's capital city, we could see the
majestic bird's sporty white tuft of a collar and featherless, bare head. It was an amazing sight, and we all thought
the Andean condor a beautiful bird.
"Beautiful" may not have been your first word upon seeing the California condor on the cover of this issue, but, as
they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
What's more beautiful than the bird itself is the fact that the bird's chance of survival has improved markedly from
when, in the 1980s, 22 of them - the entire North American population - were brought into captivity. Without the
intervention, the bird's chance of survival was slim at best. Today, 129 of the birds, both wild and captive, are
counted in Arizona and California thanks to the efforts of the scientists and volunteers who have enlivened the
prospects of this endangered treasure.
It's our turn to help, in particular those of us who hunt game in areas where condors live. By switching from lead to
lead-free ammunition, we turn the gut piles of our downed game from a potential killer to a healthy meal for animals
who scavenge, together with the condor.
In Loren Bell's article, "Dodging A(nother) Bullet," we learn more about the California condor and how hunters who
switch to lead-free ammo can help save it.
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