Egg ‘poached’ by zoo to save condors 40 years ago

Forty years ago, a California condor egg was taken from a nest in the wild on Feb. 23, 1983, and airlifted in a heated case to the San Diego Zoo as part of a desperate project to save the rare birds from extinction. Sisquoc emerged from his shell on March 30, 1983.

When the decision was made to capture all remaining California condors from the wild, there were only 22 birds left. Today there are more than 500, including 334 in the wild. From The San Diego Union, Thursday, Feb. 24, 1983:

‘POACHED’ EGG CODDLED IN PLAN TO SAVE CONDOR

A three-week-old California condor egg was snatched from its nest in the remote, rugged mountains northeast of Los Angeles yesterday and airlifted to San Diego in a critical move to save the species from extinction.

The bluish egg, more than six times the size of a chicken egg and weighing just under 10 ounces, was the first to be taken from the wild in a captive breeding program approved by the state Fish and Game commission.

Bill Toone, condor keeper at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, was assisted by Dr. Noel Snyder of the Condor Research Center in Ventura in the operation. Toone will be responsible for the care of the nestling at the park after it is hatched at the San Diego Zoo in about 35 days.

The egg, lifted from its nest by Toone who was wearing surgical gloves, was placed in a specially fitted case. The two men then climbed through rough terrain for 45 minutes to the nearest spot where pilot Charles McLaughlin could land the helicopter for the trip to San Diego.

The delicate operation, ending at the zoo’s Avian Propagation Center, took less than four hours. It was termed by a jubilant but tired Snyder as “one of the most important positive steps in the history of trying to save the species.”

Toone said it was the “best step” so far because there is “no penalty to the wild population.” He said it is expected that taking the egg will accelerate the reproductive rate in the wild because California condors are known to “double clutch” — lay another egg when they lose the first.

The pair that laid the egg that was taken lost two eggs last year, Toone said. The first was lost when the parents got into a fight, and the second was destroyed in an attack by ravens.

Should a second egg be laid and problems develop, Snyder said “emergency procedures” could be put into operation to save it from being lost.

Only 19 of the rare, huge black birds are known to remain in the wild. Among them are five known breeding pairs. Only three California condors, all males, are in captivity. One of three, a juvenile named Holl-Hol, is at the “condorminium” at the park and has been under Toone’s care since August.

Snyder, who has been babysitting the egg for the last three weeks in a blind about two minutes from the nest, was joined by Toone on Sunday when it appeared the taking of the egg was imminent.

The men could not see the nest from the blind, and relied on radio observations by Steve Kimple, a wildlife biologist from the state Department of Fish and Game, who was monitoring movements of the parent birds from another area.