Assemblymember Nava’s Condor Protection Bill Passes Key Senate Committee
California Political Desk
July 23, 2007
Sacramento, CA - Assemblymember Pedro Nava’s legislation to protect the last remaining California condors passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee last week 9 to 7.
Yesterday the fight to save the condor took a huge step forward by passing out of the Senate Appropriations Committee, but we can’t let up. Another vote is coming for this bill in the Senate to protect the condor and we need your support,” stated Nava. “The California condor is a national treasure and I am pleased with the support my bill received to protect this incredible bird,” said Nava.
AB 821, the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act will remove the number one threat to the survival of the endangered California condor, lead ammunition, by having hunters switch to a widely available, non lead ammunition alternative when they hunt big game and coyote in condor areas.
Once, they covered the continent, and the California condor flew over woolly mammoths and saber toothed tigers, until their number one predator, man brought them to the brink of extinction.
In 1987 the last remaining 22 wild California condors on earth were captured and placed in protective custody. Over the years, the population has incrementally increased, bird by bird, until 1992 when condors were reintroduced to the wild, and their biggest threat – lead ammunition.
Scavengers, the birds eat carcasses left by hunters where accidentally ingested fragments of lead ammunition are mistaken for bones with nutritious calcium. If not captured, tested, and treated for lead poisoning the California condor would have less than the 140 flying wild today.
In 2005, after $10,000 worth of invasive treatment, a lead poisoned female condor survived to hatch the first wild condor chick in California in over 100 years,” said Nava. “Today, with the passage of AB 821, California is one step closer to protecting the newest member of the condor family from its biggest threat, lead ammunition.”
Yesterday the fight to save the condor took a huge step forward by passing out of the Senate Appropriations Committee, but we can’t let up. Another vote is coming for this bill in the Senate to protect the condor and we need your support,” stated Nava. “The California condor is a national treasure and I am pleased with the support my bill received to protect this incredible bird,” said Nava.
AB 821, the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act will remove the number one threat to the survival of the endangered California condor, lead ammunition, by having hunters switch to a widely available, non lead ammunition alternative when they hunt big game and coyote in condor areas.
Once, they covered the continent, and the California condor flew over woolly mammoths and saber toothed tigers, until their number one predator, man brought them to the brink of extinction.
In 1987 the last remaining 22 wild California condors on earth were captured and placed in protective custody. Over the years, the population has incrementally increased, bird by bird, until 1992 when condors were reintroduced to the wild, and their biggest threat – lead ammunition.
Scavengers, the birds eat carcasses left by hunters where accidentally ingested fragments of lead ammunition are mistaken for bones with nutritious calcium. If not captured, tested, and treated for lead poisoning the California condor would have less than the 140 flying wild today.
In 2005, after $10,000 worth of invasive treatment, a lead poisoned female condor survived to hatch the first wild condor chick in California in over 100 years,” said Nava. “Today, with the passage of AB 821, California is one step closer to protecting the newest member of the condor family from its biggest threat, lead ammunition.”
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