Condors: More than a dozen California condors missing after sanctuary destroyed.
Iniko, a 4month old condor chick, is missing.
Wildfire destroyed the 80acre condor sanctuary in Big Sur that was his home — and the fate of the little raptor and his nest in a redwood tree is unknown. His parents, two rare California condors named Kingpin and Redwood Queen, flew away to seek safety but Iniko was too young to fly and escape with them.
A dozen other condors are also unaccounted for, wildlife officials said Wednesday.
And now the Ventana Wildlife Society of Monterey is trying to raise $500,000 to rebuild the habitat, research station and breeding facility that helped bring the California condor back from the brink of extinction four decades ago.
“It’s a real setback, depending on the number of birds that perished,” said Kelly Sorenson, executive director of the society. “We’re hopeful that they survived but we just don’t know yet.”
The California condor, with its wingspan of nearly 10 feet, is the largest bird in North America. The species nearly disappeared due to habitat destruction and lead poisoning before 27 remaining wild condors was captured — the last of them in 1987 — bred in captivity and reintroduced to the wild four years later.
The remote camera that sent live “Condor Cam” pictures of the nest was incinerated when the Dolan Fire swept through on Friday. Also consumed in the fire were a research building and bird enclosures. Sorenson said condor nests have survived previous wildfires, but no one knows if Iniko’s did.
Redwood Queen, 22, was spotted after the fire, in good condition. The whereabouts of Kingpin, 23, are unknown.
The last images recorded by the nest camera and from another sanctuary camera, which remain available for viewing on the society’s website, capture the horror of what could be the chick’s final moments.
“Iniko watches wildfire,” says a caption on footage showing the small bird crouching in the hollow of the tree, poking his head toward a narrow opening and watching the blaze approach. The crackling of the wildfire can be heard as the glow from the fire grows brighter and brighter. The video ends minutes later with the terse message, “We are praying for Iniko.”
The nearby sanctuary camera shows bright orange flames at a distance coming closer and closer, consuming the facility, before that footage also ends.
Iniko was hatched on April 25. His name means “born during troubled times.” The society says there are 101 condors in central California and about 400 elsewhere.
The sanctuary lay in the path of the Dolan Fire that broke out on Aug. 18 and as of Wednesday afternoon had burned 21,844 acres. The fire was 15% contained Wednesday, according to the U.S. Forest Service, which does not expect to fully contain the blaze until midSeptember.
The Ventana Wildlife Society has launched a fundraising drive and online auction at www.ventanaws.org to restore its facilities, which are located in an unpublicized spot to protect the birds from human admirers. For sale are condor lapel pins, condor earrings, condor baseball caps, condor key chains, condor guided tours and a handmade condor quilt.