Calling All Creatures Presents Back From the Brink: The California Condor Story

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Good evening, everybody, and welcome to Calling Out Creatures tonight.
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I'm going to be talking about California condors. The podcast
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titles actually Back from the Brink, the California Condor Story,
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and I have Kelly sorens And on me, who's the
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executive director at Ventanna Wildlife Society and also just happens
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to have a whole lot of information on California condors.
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So I am really stoked that he's on tonight with
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us and he can give us more information about the
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California condor. Thanks for being on the podcast tonight, Kelly,
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I really appreciate it.
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Oh my pleasure. Thank you so much.
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So why don't you just go ahead and tell us
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a little bit about you know, what kind of first
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drew you to wildlife conservation and how did you kind
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of have your path go towards the condors? How did
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they them into your life?
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You know, I guess I've always loved animals from a
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little kid. I remember always being drawn to animals. And
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my dad used to tell a story where he he
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wanted to go deer hunting one time and I gave
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him a frown look or whatever, and you know, and
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he didn't want to go hunting after that. Of course,
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later on I was a teenager, I developed an interest inning.
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But anyway, I've always loved animals, and when I was
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in college, I found this retail hawk nest and I
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was really interested in those birds and was studying them
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and they failed, and I didn't know why. I really
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piqued my curiosity, and at the time I was kind
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of more going in the direction of wildlife photography. But
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I think at that moment it just clicked and I
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realized I wanted to do something more to you know,
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help recovering most back in nature.
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Oh okay, okay, well that's a good cause.
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Well, and you asked about the condors, And they didn't
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enter my life until many, many years later, after I
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finished my undergraduate degree and came out to California to
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release bald eagles to the wild. And we finished that
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effort in nineteen ninety five and was very successful in
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central California. FARK seeded our goals, and right at that time,
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I was just finishing my undergraduate degree, and US Fish
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and wildlfe Service reached out to Fantano Wildlife Society and
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asked if we wanted to release California condors to the wild.
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Oh, very cool. So that was more or less your
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first encounters would the condors then? Was being asked to
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do that?
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That's right. I had studied bald eagles and worked with
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peregrine falcons before that, and a lot of other birds
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of prey rehab center and a ton of handling, and
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just really fell in love with these birds. But I
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never once thought I'd be working with the California condor.
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And it just so happened. Happens that our sanctuary that.
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We released bald eagles on the Big sur Coast also
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is suitable for California condors, so we use the same
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exact location and we were invited.
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In nineteen ninety five. Our first release of Californy condors
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to Big Sir was in nineteen ninety seven and we've
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been had it ever since.
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Well that's pretty cool. So how interesting you got to
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work with body eagles and the peregrine falcon, which is
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another cool bird, and then onto the condors. That's pretty wild,
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I mean, so now we're going to find out hopefully
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a little bit more about condors and stuff too. Are
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the condors larger than the bald eagles.
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Oh yeah, the California condor's largest North American land bird,
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with a wingspan of nine and a half feet, and
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bald eagle has a wingspan of about seven feet. So
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you know that two and a half extra fee is
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quite noticeable. And if you've seen a turkey vulture, most
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people have maybe they don't know it, but they're widespread
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all across North America. They have about six foot wingspan,
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so you're talking about a third larger the California condor.
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Is that's pretty amazing. Yeah. I actually have some pictures
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of turkey vultures that were outside of where I worked,
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and they were standing there and they had their wings
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stretched out and stuff, and it looked really pretty awesome
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to see them like that. So then I can just
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imagine the wingspan from the condor.
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Oh yeah, yeah, that's pretty cool, impressive to the condor's sunning.
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We call that sunning behavior where they have their wings
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out and it's really neat to see a group of
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condors all doing that.
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Yeah, oh my gosh, I can imagine. So, in your opinion,
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what kind of makes the condor such a unique and
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meaningful species to protect because they actually are in need
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of protection. I mean, they're coming back, but a lot
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of stuff has happened over the years with them.
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You know. For me, I've just fall in love with
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this species because if they're just incredible uniqueness and personalities,
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these birds are truly individuals and you really see it
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in how they express themselves behaviorally, and it's really fascinating
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to me because, you know, we'll put it this way,
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I knew the condors were very different and any other
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bird of prey the first time I handled one, because
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any other bird of prey, when you handle them and
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you put a hood over their head and make it dark,
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close off their view, they calm down and in some
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cases they live and fall asleep in your arms. I
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had a baby bald eagle fall asleep in my arms
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once with a hood on it will start drooling on it.
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You put a hood on a California condor and they
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freak out. They just can't stand it. And as soon
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as you take the hood off and they can see
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what you're doing, even if you're injecting them with a
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needle or something, you know, something uncomfortable, they immediately relax
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because they can see what you're doing. And to me,
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that's just really extraordinary and totally different than any other
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bird I've ever worked with. So it says something about
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how unique these birds are. And so that's a big
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one for me. But you know, I've always been drawn
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to a endangered speed because I feel like, you know,
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we should do better in every case I can think of,
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and dangered species became that way because of human activity,
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and not to put blame, but to find solutions moving forward.
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And that's kind of how I've just you know, devoted
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my career this whole time.
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So it was like I just mentioned they do need
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some protections. But for those that may not know, how
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close did the California condors actually come to extinction, Well, they.
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Were very close to extinction. And by the way, I've
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forgot to also mention that, you know, there's this is
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another reason why condors and other scavengers are important, and
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that's the news that they fill in our ecosystem. You know,
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imagine if all these dead animals laying around in the
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landscape were eaten by scavengers, you know, they will kind
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of health problems we might have and so on. In fact,
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in India want a vulture population crash occur. Dogs and
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diseases associated with a big increase in dog population did
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pour over and affect the human population. So we know
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that scavengers are benefit beneficial to humans and the ecosystem,
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and I didn't want that point to get missed. I
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always tend to start with with more of the emotional response,
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but there's an ecological balance imperative there too.
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Oh yeah, most definitely. I mean people don't realize just
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how important pretty much every animal is in the ecosystem
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they're in. You know, it's like here the coyote and
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stuff like that, and the turkey vultures and everything. You know,
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people don't like the coyotes here because they're sofraid they're
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gonna take their little animals and all this other stuff.
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But you know, they're a part of the ecosystem and
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they do take care of a lot of the scavenging
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and like you said, the dead animals and stuff like that.
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Yeah. So before I forget, you had asked about how
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close did it come? And they were down to just
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twenty two individuals in nineteen eighty two. Yeah, so literally
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just twenty two lives away from being gone forever. And
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it really was the heroic efforts of zoos in the
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first place, that captured them all up and brought them
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into captivity to begin captive breeding. And at the time,
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you know, people didn't know if it was going to
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even work or not. And then you know, fast forward
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to the late nineties when when I got involved in
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a ton of wildye society got involved. Our focus has
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been primarily on the release of those captive breadbirds to
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the wild and then figuring out, you know, causes of death.
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You know, what are the limitations out there that are
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holding back the population and so that we.
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Can address those, Yeah, exactly, I mean, and back when
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that population declined, what were some of the biggest factors
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that caused that to happen.
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Well, the biggest cause of excessive mortality back then and
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still today is the ingestion of lead ammunition let. It
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is extremely poisonous when it's ingested. And so I'm not
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talking about being shot. You know, lead bullets are still
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the most commonly type of bullet used out there. But
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the lie animals that are shot, like you know, ground
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squirrels and things that aren't you game animals are shot
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and they're left out in the landscape, and scavengers like
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condoors and eagles they come by and they eat those
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ingest whole fragments of ammunition, and when that happens, it's
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extremely toxic, and believe it or not, it happens so
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often because condos are obligates scavengers, they don't ever take
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live prey, so they're eating dead animals that are shot
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all the time, you know, every every day or every
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other every other day perhaps, and so they're experiencing the
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exposure of lead poisoning probably more often than any other
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species out there. And unfortunately, it's it's caused such high
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cause of death, you know, the rate cause of death
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that they just haven't been able to keep up. And
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so when the captive breeding program got online and we
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started putting birds out of the WAID, we started increasing
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the population dramatically. In fact, today there's over six hundred
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California condors alive, up from twenty two, so it's you know,
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we've come a long long way. But unfortunately, that lead
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poisoning rate is still so high that in the absence
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of captive breeding, the population would be predicted to drop again.
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Oh wow, hum, it's too bad that people wouldn't work
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a little harder and you know, not doing not using
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the lead bullets and stuff like that. But I guess,
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you know, cheaper way to go when they're out shooting.
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I don't know, it's crazy.
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There's a lot to unpack there, but I'll just maybe
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sum it up real quickly that Unfortunately, I think there's
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a very high expectation on hunters and ranchers to switch
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and it's not really that realistic just yet because the
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market doesn't support all calibers. There's still some calibers that
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are very hard to find and non lead, and so
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we're very sympathetic to the hunting and ranching community and
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actually provide free non lead ammunition to people in and
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around where condors are trying to survive out there in
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the landscape. We think it's a really important win win
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solution type approach.
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Well, that's good to know. I mean, it's good that
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you're helping them with that as well and putting that
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out there for them, so kind of you all the
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way around winning situation. It helps the condors, helps them.
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Sounds great. Yeah, So back when you guys started doing this,
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did you believe that recovery, that recovery was going to
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be possible with the condurors or no, or were you doubtful.
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At any point? Yeah, it's funny. I remember vividly. I
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wrote an article for the organization that it was printed
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in nineteen ninety five in our newsletter. It went out
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to our members, and I remember it was titled something
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like our Greatest conservation Challenge. And at that time, this
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was nineteen ninety five, I predicted it would take twenty
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five years to get to the point where the birds
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were self sustaining and with you know, a population size
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where we could maybe start thinking about downlisting, not taking
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off the endangered species lists entirely, but removed, you know,
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from a danger to threaten. Well, that clock, of course,
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ran out in twenty twenty. Here we are six years later,
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and it is painfully clear that lead poisoning from the
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ingestion have spent ammunition that they're getting from the carcasses
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that they consume still remains the biggest problem. And in
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the last five years, only one of those resulted in
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a net gain by the population in the absence of
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new birds being released from captivity. So in other words,
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one out of five years they showed signs of self sustainability.
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The other four they didn't and why because the lead
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poisoning death ray is still just too high. So we're
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not there yet, but we have, like except you know,
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six hundred condors in the wild, they're scattered in four
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different popular We're going in the right direction, and you know,
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making a good, good headway, good progress on outreach to
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hunters of ranchers.
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That's good news. That's really good news to hear. So
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hopefully the populations will keep you know, climbing up and
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getting bigger and start doing better with blood poisoning. So
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we can only hope.
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Yeah, that's right.
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Why don't you real quick give our listeners, give my
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listeners just a little bit more information about the California condors,
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kind of like their diet, habitat, how long do they live?
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I mean, do they just mate with one mate for life?
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Just a little more general information on them.
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Yeah, great idea, because they really are unique in many ways,
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so it's good to understand how they take. For one thing,
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they're a very long listpecies. If we think that they
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can live well over fifty years in the wild, we
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know that they could live over fifty in captivity. There's
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there's one who just turned fifty the name Topa topa.
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So there are very long lived species, and that of
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course corresponds with their slow reproductive rates. So kind of
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like people, you know, we don't you know, we don't
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reproduce very quickly, and it takes a long time before
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we reach mature. Same thing with the California Connor. A
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big difference, though. We have eight billion people on this planet,
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and the reason why is because we live well into
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our you know, seventies and eighties. Our longtevity is so good,
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mortality is so low. Conversely, the California Connor mortality rates
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is so high that they've been unable to keep up.
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But let's see, they're all of the good scavengers. I
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mentioned that they eat pretty much only the remains of
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dead mammals and sometimes fish, rarely other birds. I don't know,
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I know if I've ever seen no feed on any
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other bird. But you know, they'll range in size from
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a ground squirrel all the way into a whale carcass
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that they will feed on. They do something interesting, so
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they live in hot environments and when they need to
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cool down, they'll actually defecate on their own legs. It's
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called eurohydrosis, and it sounds really gross. I'm sure it is.
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It's very effective. So imagine if you're flying it is
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really hot out there, you know, and now your legs
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are wet, and you just dangle them in the wind. Oh,
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that's a nice way to cool down, right, Well, that's
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what they do. It's one of the unique things that
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they do. They are they're definitely monogamous. Same anogamous. So
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this is really interesting. Okay, condoors will mate for life. However,
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you know, there have been change ups in those pairings,
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and we've even seen trios, which is really fascinating to me,
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where we've had two females and one male, and sometimes
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two males and one female, and so it's it's worked
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both ways. Typically, condours will only have a pair and
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they'll lay just one egg in that nest. That egg
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will then be incubated for fifty four to fifty six days.
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Interestingly enough, they incubate it with their feet. Most birds
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incubate with their breasts. Their feathers fall out and the
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skin becomes exposed and they put their skin up against
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the egg. Condres don't do that. They they just lay
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an egg in a cavity somewhere like a redwood tree
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or a cliff face somewhere lay the egg and then
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kind of sit on it with their feet on top
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of it. And so it's the warmth of their feet
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that's doing the work of the incubation and all throughout
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the whole entire nesting process. Both members were Like I said,
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sometimes all three trio members will all take part in
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the duties, from incubation, the chick rearing to everything. So
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that's a really neat thing I love about these birds.
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This is how cooperative they are. In fact, we can
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even determine when a pair has started nesting just by
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the behavior of the birds, because you'll never see them together.
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One's always in the nests and the other ones out
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looking for food, and so you can, you know, really
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use their own behavior to help manage the birds too.
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But anyway, that's a tangent. Let's see what else about
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these amazing birds. Well, they don't migrate. Even though they
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fly huge distances, can fly one hundred and fifty miles
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in a day or more, they don't migrate, so they're
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familiar with their entire range and extremely social. One of
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the things I love about these birds the most is
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just how social they are almost never see a connor
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by itself or at least with the group, and I
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think they even help each other out. I think I've
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even seen some form of altruism in these birds, you know,
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watching an adult bird feed a young bird. You know,
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it's not even directly related things like that, you know.
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I think of congrus as sort of like tribal, you know,
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and it's really neat when you think of them that way.
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Okay, well that's pretty uh. I guess that's a good
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way to describe them as tribal. But it sounds like
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they're actually pretty cool birds. I mean, I know a
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lot of birds, you know, we'll meet with each other
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and then help, you know, with the young and stuff
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like that. But when you have the extras in there,
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like the extra female or the extra male, that's kind
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of interesting.
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Yeah, it's it's very interesting. And what I've met by tribal,
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it's just that it's such a small, close group of individuals,
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and they all seem to know each other, and they
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all interact with each other in some ways, you know,
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and to me, it feels kind of like a you know, yeah,
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small tribe if you will. I guess that's the population grows,
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and maybe I won't think of it the same way.
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Maybe not, Maybe they'll get large enough. You well, it
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could just be a large tribe, I guess.
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But well there you go. I hope they do become.
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A large tribe, obviously, hopefully they do. Oh that's great.
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So you have talked a little bit about that. You
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guys have released the condors and stuff into the wild.
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How does that process kind of work? I mean, what
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does it take to release a condor into the wild?
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Yeah, that's a great question, because when we were getting
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started in the mid nineties, we you know, I remember
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taking a trip down to US Fish and Wildlife Service
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because at the time they were the only that was
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the only place where condurors existed in the wild, and
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there was only about a dozen or so or maybe
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twenty condres in the wild when I first got started,
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and I said, do you have any kind of a manual,
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you know, release manual or anything written up? And they said,
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oh yeah, we got this this big manually. And it
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was a huge, big, big thing, you know, And so
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I said, oh great. I went back and I read
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through the whole thing, and I realized what the manual
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was calling for was essentially the construction of a small
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box kind of apply with box. It's easily constructed, and
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the birds held there and acclimated to their new environment
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and then released, and then that that night you take
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the whole box down and you just remove everything so
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they so they're just out there in the in the wild.
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And the logic back then was condors needed to be
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kept wild as it was, so we needed to be,
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you know, at arm's length as best as possible. Uh.
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In the zoo's little puppets were used that make you
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look like condors, so the disguise the human caretaker out
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in the wild. Every every human worker would would do
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their best to only work at night, for example. I
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think things like that, and it just didn't work, I
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guess the way to put it. The big problem that
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we had our first four birds that we released in
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nineteen ninety seven. They weren't socialized one another, and I
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don't think they were imprinted on their own species. I
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think they were a little bit more imprinted on humans.
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And I say that because when they were released, they
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approached people. Oneber even went up to a tourist and
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pulled on their shoelaces. I mean, these birds were pain
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to put it that way, and it was just a nightmare.
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And so we captured all four of those birds. One
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of them got sent to Arizona is one of our
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partners releases contors in Arizona, and that bird actually did
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quite well for a number of years. The other three
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are still in captivity to this day, but at least
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they can contributing uh, you know, new new breeding stock
383
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for the for the while. But anyway, we learned a
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really really valuable lesson, and that was that these birds
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need some kind of an infrastructure in order to provide
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care and management. Afterwards, that was our biggest aha moment,
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and so we kind of pushed back on the on
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the manual, you know, the direction that we were given,
389
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and said, we want to do the opposite. We want
390
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to build a big flight pen where we can get
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these young condors out of the zoo at an early
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age and let them interact with each other. And hey,
393
00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:40.839
while we're at it, we want to put an adult
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connor inside with them so that they can interact with
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that adult condor and and you know, become imprinted on
396
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condors not humans. And so we we we changed all
397
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that up. We worn't closely with the zoos. Zeus did
398
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an amazing job of, you know, using the puppet less
399
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.440
and instead relying on on one way glass so the
400
00:26:04.519 --> 00:26:07.480
chicks could view adult condors and just sort of got
401
00:26:07.519 --> 00:26:10.400
out of the way, you know, of the birds, because
402
00:26:10.400 --> 00:26:12.200
they just need to see each other when they're growing
403
00:26:12.279 --> 00:26:16.200
up and they'll become great condoors. But in the absence
404
00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:21.000
of seeing another condor during their upbringing yield it's some
405
00:26:21.039 --> 00:26:26.240
really bad behavioral traits. Anyway, once we figured that out,
406
00:26:27.559 --> 00:26:31.079
the birds have been keeping to themselves. You know, you
407
00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:34.240
can kind of approach them because they're very curious. They're
408
00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:36.920
not afraid of you, but they don't approach you. And
409
00:26:36.960 --> 00:26:40.400
that's the biggest difference. And so these these birds now
410
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are behaving just like the wild birds did before they
411
00:26:43.599 --> 00:26:47.200
were ever brought into captivity. And that was a huge,
412
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huge hurdle in the first couple of years and really
413
00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:55.559
scariest because you know, that first release was a failure
414
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and then you know everything was on the line for
415
00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:00.759
that second release. And I'll go into a little bit
416
00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:09.400
more detail too. We put doors, two different doors on
417
00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:13.000
the release pen that allow us a lot of controls,
418
00:27:13.160 --> 00:27:15.400
not only to release them in the first place, but
419
00:27:15.480 --> 00:27:18.599
later on when we need to trap them, because if
420
00:27:18.680 --> 00:27:20.599
they're sick or injured, or we need to just put
421
00:27:20.599 --> 00:27:23.880
a new transmitter on or whatever, do we just open
422
00:27:23.960 --> 00:27:28.160
up that door BETA with food, sometimes even BETA with
423
00:27:28.200 --> 00:27:30.839
another condo and they're so social and then you can
424
00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:35.240
retrap them that way. So having a facility out in
425
00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:40.480
the wild is absolutely essential. In fact, because of the
426
00:27:40.519 --> 00:27:44.599
work that we did, it actually spread throughout the entire
427
00:27:44.599 --> 00:27:47.279
program and all of our partners released the same way today.
428
00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:51.400
Oh my god, that was great. I was going to
429
00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:55.000
ask too, You said something about transmitter. Is that how
430
00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:57.400
you track and monitor the condors once you release them?
431
00:27:57.440 --> 00:27:59.799
Did they have like monitors on or a GPS or
432
00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:00.599
something something like that.
433
00:28:02.200 --> 00:28:05.480
Yeah, yeah, you bet. Now, when we first started, GPS
434
00:28:05.519 --> 00:28:12.279
transmitters were not very common. They're extremely expensive and they
435
00:28:12.279 --> 00:28:16.160
weren't that accurate. It wasn't until two thousand and three
436
00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:20.079
that we put GPS transmitters on CONDERSCE for the first time.
437
00:28:20.680 --> 00:28:22.960
But all of the condors released have some kind of
438
00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:27.079
a tracking device so that we can determine, you know,
439
00:28:27.160 --> 00:28:31.160
their their movements, their whereabouts they're nesting, and if they die,
440
00:28:31.480 --> 00:28:34.200
you know, we want to know why, it's super important
441
00:28:34.279 --> 00:28:39.519
that we understand those those things. Right now, These GPS
442
00:28:39.559 --> 00:28:43.519
transmitters are so good they can tell us where the
443
00:28:43.559 --> 00:28:50.119
condor is twice per minute, and it's so accurate it's
444
00:28:50.200 --> 00:28:53.920
like plus or minus ten feeds or something like that.
445
00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:58.079
It's just an incredible tool. So now we can we
446
00:28:58.119 --> 00:29:00.720
can estimate where they're feeding, and then we could direct
447
00:29:00.759 --> 00:29:06.480
our non let outreach in those areas, contacting landowners and
448
00:29:06.799 --> 00:29:09.680
that kind of thing. We're very strategic outreach because of
449
00:29:09.720 --> 00:29:11.559
the GPS tracking technology.
450
00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:15.440
Well, you know, and it's it's come quite a ways
451
00:29:15.519 --> 00:29:18.079
too since it first came out, so it's probably a
452
00:29:18.119 --> 00:29:21.039
little easier nowadays than it was when it first came
453
00:29:21.039 --> 00:29:25.240
out to use it. Then you know, transmitters and stuff
454
00:29:25.240 --> 00:29:27.039
like that are smaller and everything like that.
455
00:29:27.160 --> 00:29:32.839
So yeah, we've seen just a huge difference in the
456
00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:35.799
thirty years that we've been working with California Connors.
457
00:29:35.920 --> 00:29:41.039
Oh yeah, So has there been an actual moment that
458
00:29:41.279 --> 00:29:43.799
actually that made you think, yeah, this is this is
459
00:29:43.960 --> 00:29:45.559
actually working what we're doing here?
460
00:29:47.680 --> 00:29:50.359
Oh for sure. I mean I think that's that first
461
00:29:50.440 --> 00:29:54.759
big hurdle, just how do we even release Connors to
462
00:29:54.799 --> 00:29:56.759
the wild? How do we even get them started, you know,
463
00:29:56.839 --> 00:30:00.279
like that was a big question. Of course, the first
464
00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:03.240
question was how did the zoos breathe them in captivity?
465
00:30:03.279 --> 00:30:07.640
But that was readily seemed to come true, and there
466
00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:12.319
was really no hesitation by the birds there. We worked
467
00:30:12.319 --> 00:30:16.359
out the techniques pretty early on, and then i'd say
468
00:30:16.759 --> 00:30:20.119
for seven or eight years we had a growing flock
469
00:30:20.200 --> 00:30:23.440
and almost no lead poisoning. But that's because the birds
470
00:30:23.480 --> 00:30:26.319
weren't going anywhere. And then all of a sudden they
471
00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:30.759
got older and more established, and they started expanding their range,
472
00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:33.000
and then we started getting into lead poisoning and way like,
473
00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:37.920
oh boy, okay, what's going on. And then in two
474
00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:43.599
thousand and what was it two thousand and seven or yeah,
475
00:30:43.599 --> 00:30:47.039
I guess it was two thousand and seven, California required
476
00:30:47.079 --> 00:30:53.799
the use of non lead ammunition in the Connor Range,
477
00:30:54.160 --> 00:30:58.680
so not statewide, but just in the Connor Range. And
478
00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:02.519
then in two thousand and ninety they expanded and required
479
00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:06.319
non lead ammunition use for the entire state. But unfortunately,
480
00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:10.000
at the same time, in twenty nineteen, a new law
481
00:31:10.119 --> 00:31:15.960
was passed that severely restricts the access to ammunition and
482
00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:20.240
has then created a huge problem. And now we're seeing
483
00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:23.880
more lead poisoning now after the requirement to use non
484
00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:27.440
lead than before because of this other policy that came
485
00:31:27.480 --> 00:31:33.079
into play and just messing things up. It's kind of
486
00:31:33.079 --> 00:31:34.880
a long story, but you know, there's moments where I
487
00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:36.680
felt like, oh, yeah, we're on track, we're going to
488
00:31:36.720 --> 00:31:38.359
be We're totally going to do this, and then there's
489
00:31:38.359 --> 00:31:40.799
been other times where we get set back like this
490
00:31:40.880 --> 00:31:44.279
and I think, oh boy, you know, I could still
491
00:31:44.279 --> 00:31:47.200
get there, but it's going to take longer. And now
492
00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:50.720
here we are, We're at thirty years, and I feel
493
00:31:50.799 --> 00:31:54.880
like we can still pull this off, but we have
494
00:31:54.960 --> 00:31:57.559
to resolve the lead poisoning problem, and so we still
495
00:31:57.599 --> 00:31:59.359
need more time in order to do that.
496
00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:04.920
Right right, Well, it sounds like someone needs to figure
497
00:32:04.960 --> 00:32:09.079
out getting that one law repealed or changed or something.
498
00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:12.160
I mean, oh my gosh, you know that's government for you.
499
00:32:12.559 --> 00:32:13.559
That's the government for you.
500
00:32:13.680 --> 00:32:18.480
Yeah, oh, absolutely, sorry about that. But yeah, there's so
501
00:32:18.559 --> 00:32:21.200
much more I could share, but there is some hope
502
00:32:21.240 --> 00:32:23.839
that that law is going to be repealed. There's a
503
00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:27.119
lot of people that think it's unconstitutional because it requires
504
00:32:27.200 --> 00:32:30.119
you to to get a background check every time you
505
00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:34.000
buy ammunition. It's it's kind of like every time you
506
00:32:34.039 --> 00:32:35.960
fill up your car at the gas station, you got
507
00:32:35.960 --> 00:32:39.680
to get a background check. So I think it's going
508
00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:42.480
to get repealed, but it just has to go through
509
00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:46.079
the whole process. And meanwhile, or just you know, we'll
510
00:32:46.119 --> 00:32:47.200
keep chipping away at it.
511
00:32:47.720 --> 00:32:50.160
Yeah, that's all you can really do. But I wish
512
00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:52.400
you guys look out there with getting that one repealed,
513
00:32:52.440 --> 00:32:56.200
because that does some kind of That's sure. That's so silly,
514
00:32:57.519 --> 00:33:00.640
yeah doesn't it. Yeah, But you know, it doesn't surprised me.
515
00:33:01.240 --> 00:33:03.880
Like I said, the government just never ceases to amaze
516
00:33:03.880 --> 00:33:05.400
me with some of the things they come up with
517
00:33:05.559 --> 00:33:07.599
and think is good and then it's not good. And
518
00:33:07.640 --> 00:33:11.720
then the double double thing going on just kills me.
519
00:33:14.400 --> 00:33:16.480
What do you do? You just keep chipping away at it.
520
00:33:16.480 --> 00:33:19.680
Right, that's right, that's right.
521
00:33:21.400 --> 00:33:30.000
So what role has Benana Wildlife Society actually played in
522
00:33:30.039 --> 00:33:32.200
this effort? I mean, have they been Has it been
523
00:33:32.279 --> 00:33:34.720
Beentana that's been involved since ninety five when you guys
524
00:33:34.720 --> 00:33:35.519
were asked to do this?
525
00:33:38.119 --> 00:33:42.160
Well? Yeah, So the Fish and Wildlife Service is the
526
00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:45.960
government agency, the federal government agency that is leading the
527
00:33:46.039 --> 00:33:50.319
recovery of the effort, and they conducted releases in southern
528
00:33:50.319 --> 00:33:54.920
California in the early nineties to kind of show, you
529
00:33:54.920 --> 00:33:59.079
know that it was possible. The Los Angeles Zoo in
530
00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:05.720
the San Diego Zoo and one other zoo in Boise,
531
00:34:05.839 --> 00:34:12.880
Idaho later on started capter breeding for release to the wild,
532
00:34:14.599 --> 00:34:18.000
and then in ninety five that's when that's when we
533
00:34:18.119 --> 00:34:21.360
got started. Our first release was in nineteen ninety seven.
534
00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:25.679
So our focus is released to the wild and figure
535
00:34:25.719 --> 00:34:30.960
out the underlying problems to result in a self sustating population.
536
00:34:31.079 --> 00:34:34.599
So that's that's ultimately our focus, working closely with the
537
00:34:34.679 --> 00:34:40.920
zoo partners, and you know, it's amazing where that's taken us.
538
00:34:40.920 --> 00:34:42.840
You know, when I when I first started, I had
539
00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:46.400
no idea we'd be hanging out so much free ammunition
540
00:34:46.400 --> 00:34:48.639
in the hunters and ranchers. I had no idea we'd
541
00:34:48.719 --> 00:34:53.679
be lobbying for you know, reduction and exercise tax on
542
00:34:53.760 --> 00:34:56.519
ammunition or you know, any number of these things that
543
00:34:56.559 --> 00:34:59.199
we're doing to try to ship away as you say,
544
00:34:59.639 --> 00:35:02.039
and all this problem. But you know, here we are.
545
00:35:02.280 --> 00:35:04.559
You just figure out what needs to get done and
546
00:35:04.599 --> 00:35:05.119
you do it.
547
00:35:06.519 --> 00:35:08.760
Yeah, that's all you can do. I mean, really, that's
548
00:35:08.800 --> 00:35:14.119
all you can do. Just keep hoping. What are some
549
00:35:14.199 --> 00:35:19.719
misconceptions that you think people might have about condors or
550
00:35:19.760 --> 00:35:23.920
the conservation efforts involving them.
551
00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:27.719
Yeah, there's a couple big, big ones, I think. So
552
00:35:28.480 --> 00:35:32.519
I think, you know, Disney has a has a role
553
00:35:32.519 --> 00:35:35.679
to play in this, because you think back to the
554
00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:39.760
cartoon character of the Connor just popped in your mind,
555
00:35:39.840 --> 00:35:42.360
just instantly, right ring around its neck.
556
00:35:42.480 --> 00:35:43.559
One of them was a beatle.
557
00:35:44.679 --> 00:35:48.320
Yeah, he's like he kind of talks real, real dumb, like,
558
00:35:48.400 --> 00:35:52.559
you know, it's terrible. There's the worst pr nightmare that
559
00:35:52.639 --> 00:35:55.079
you can imagine. It's so far from the truth. The
560
00:35:55.119 --> 00:35:59.360
Connor is actually one of the more intelligent birds out
561
00:35:59.360 --> 00:36:03.840
there in my op So it's really you know, injustice
562
00:36:03.920 --> 00:36:06.960
and how they were portrayed all those years, and so
563
00:36:07.039 --> 00:36:10.400
I think that stuck with us. People think that they
564
00:36:11.159 --> 00:36:13.840
could barely fly because they're so big, they have to
565
00:36:13.880 --> 00:36:16.840
take a big running start to take off and fly. No,
566
00:36:16.880 --> 00:36:20.599
that's not really true. Another thing I can't stand every
567
00:36:20.639 --> 00:36:25.679
time the press covers the condor, they almost always figure
568
00:36:25.719 --> 00:36:28.519
out a way to put a little plug in there
569
00:36:28.599 --> 00:36:31.800
that somehow the Condor is like a dinosaur, And it
570
00:36:31.920 --> 00:36:34.320
just drives me not saying people think, oh, it's a
571
00:36:34.360 --> 00:36:37.039
big bird must be a dinosaur. Don't come on, No,
572
00:36:39.079 --> 00:36:43.039
all birds today are pretty much dinosaurs, but they're no
573
00:36:43.800 --> 00:36:47.719
older than any other anyway. It's just ridiculous. Condors are
574
00:36:47.760 --> 00:36:49.320
not dinosaurs.
575
00:36:51.639 --> 00:36:53.840
I understands birds.
576
00:36:53.920 --> 00:36:58.039
I mean, well, right, I mean, you've probably looked at
577
00:36:58.039 --> 00:37:01.559
the news articles and stuff. If you didn't notice it,
578
00:37:01.639 --> 00:37:04.440
you'll go back and look. It's sure enough. Probably you know,
579
00:37:04.639 --> 00:37:07.239
six out of ten articles will plug in there somewhere
580
00:37:07.320 --> 00:37:10.679
that the condo or some dinosaur lup or whatever. So
581
00:37:11.079 --> 00:37:15.280
hopefully that goes away because that is not accurate either.
582
00:37:16.599 --> 00:37:20.519
And then lastly, in terms of their conservation, you know,
583
00:37:20.679 --> 00:37:25.159
there just wasn't enough education being done on this lead
584
00:37:25.199 --> 00:37:30.320
ammunition issue in the early years, and then it went
585
00:37:30.400 --> 00:37:35.239
straight to a ban and that really got things controversial,
586
00:37:35.519 --> 00:37:38.280
and that's when people started lying, and you know, that's
587
00:37:38.320 --> 00:37:43.039
when a lot of misconception about the motivation behind the
588
00:37:43.639 --> 00:37:46.079
non lead requirement. You know, there were a lot of
589
00:37:46.079 --> 00:37:48.320
folks saying it was a you know, kind of a
590
00:37:48.360 --> 00:37:53.639
backdoor attempt to take away hunting or shooting, and quite frankly,
591
00:37:53.679 --> 00:37:55.440
that was one of the reasons why early on we
592
00:37:55.920 --> 00:37:59.039
stepped up and said we're giving away bullets to people.
593
00:37:59.079 --> 00:38:04.440
If that's what you think, you're mistaken, right.
594
00:38:06.400 --> 00:38:08.440
Let me give you some amm for that gun.
595
00:38:10.400 --> 00:38:12.880
Well, yeah, exactly. And we've made a lot of friends
596
00:38:12.920 --> 00:38:16.599
over the years. I bet if you think about it,
597
00:38:16.599 --> 00:38:19.280
I mean, hunters and ranchers, they're sitting on the best
598
00:38:19.320 --> 00:38:22.960
wallt habitat in the country. You know, we need.
599
00:38:22.760 --> 00:38:28.159
Them, my gosh. But you've got a lot of good
600
00:38:28.159 --> 00:38:34.800
friends out there with that one. That program that's funny.
601
00:38:33.199 --> 00:38:36.280
After doing it for well, we start in twenty twelve,
602
00:38:36.400 --> 00:38:38.599
so I mean we're over fifteenth year.
603
00:38:38.559 --> 00:38:43.239
Now, Oh wow, that's crazy. But you know it helps,
604
00:38:43.840 --> 00:38:46.079
you know, it helps the condors and it makes the
605
00:38:46.159 --> 00:38:52.639
ranchers and them happy. So again, like I said, win win, yep, and.
606
00:38:52.599 --> 00:38:55.199
We know it's working. A paper just came out that
607
00:38:56.159 --> 00:38:59.840
evaluated it and it shows that it's helping.
608
00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:02.559
Well there you go. I mean, now you've got statistics
609
00:39:02.599 --> 00:39:07.599
behind there too. That's a great So exactly, anything that'll work, right,
610
00:39:09.960 --> 00:39:12.440
it helps to get you where you need to be.
611
00:39:14.840 --> 00:39:19.639
So is there anything in particular though that as you
612
00:39:19.719 --> 00:39:21.480
might say, it keeps you up at night when you
613
00:39:21.519 --> 00:39:23.679
think about the future of the condor. You know something
614
00:39:23.679 --> 00:39:26.239
you just can't kind of wrap your head around, you know,
615
00:39:26.280 --> 00:39:27.840
one of those kinds of things where you just keep
616
00:39:27.880 --> 00:39:29.880
thinking about it.
617
00:39:31.079 --> 00:39:33.400
Yeah, I mean one of my biggest fears is getting
618
00:39:33.440 --> 00:39:37.440
them my retirement age, which is about ten years, and
619
00:39:37.719 --> 00:39:43.920
still not have a self sustained population of condours that that.
620
00:39:44.159 --> 00:39:47.519
You know, it's definitely one of those kind of nightmarish
621
00:39:47.559 --> 00:39:51.400
thoughts spending your whole entire career and then feel like
622
00:39:51.440 --> 00:39:55.400
it's still not quite you know, successful. Yeah, that would
623
00:39:55.400 --> 00:39:59.679
be rather devastating to put all that effort into it.
624
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:02.039
And I think there's people all around the world that
625
00:40:02.039 --> 00:40:04.880
that would be disappointed too, and I don't you know,
626
00:40:05.199 --> 00:40:07.000
I don't want a lot of them down. It's not
627
00:40:07.079 --> 00:40:09.880
like this recovery species is all on my shoulders, but
628
00:40:10.480 --> 00:40:12.039
you know, we play a big part in it, and
629
00:40:12.079 --> 00:40:14.320
I want to see it through. So that's a big
630
00:40:16.039 --> 00:40:17.599
but that's I guess the reason why we're just so
631
00:40:17.719 --> 00:40:22.440
driven to succeed, so we don't find ourselves in that
632
00:40:22.639 --> 00:40:27.119
in that situation right exactly, you know, And I think
633
00:40:27.239 --> 00:40:31.199
I think about this. It's called the Safety for All Acts,
634
00:40:30.840 --> 00:40:34.840
the new policy that came into play that requires the
635
00:40:34.880 --> 00:40:39.119
background checks, and who would have ever thought that that,
636
00:40:39.480 --> 00:40:42.280
you know, something like that would cause such a huge
637
00:40:42.320 --> 00:40:46.159
problem for availability of non lead. And you know, so
638
00:40:47.079 --> 00:40:50.400
right when twenty nineteen came around in the state California,
639
00:40:50.400 --> 00:40:53.639
the entire state was requiring non lead. I mean, I
640
00:40:54.199 --> 00:40:57.880
was super hopeful. I was thinking, oh great, you know, manufacturing,
641
00:40:58.119 --> 00:40:59.760
it's going to pick up. We're going to start seeing
642
00:40:59.760 --> 00:41:02.159
a lot more non leed options and all the calibers,
643
00:41:02.199 --> 00:41:03.840
and it's going to start going in the right direction,
644
00:41:03.960 --> 00:41:08.639
and we're going to be done. And then you know this,
645
00:41:08.639 --> 00:41:12.119
this background check thing came in and it prevents you
646
00:41:12.199 --> 00:41:15.639
from buying ammunition online and having it ship to your doorstep.
647
00:41:15.719 --> 00:41:18.480
You have to go to a local store. And we
648
00:41:18.599 --> 00:41:22.400
know that half of the stores in the condo range
649
00:41:22.559 --> 00:41:26.599
don't even carry some of these important calibers. So, you know,
650
00:41:26.719 --> 00:41:29.800
we just need to solve these these these kind of
651
00:41:31.360 --> 00:41:36.519
structural problems. It's market level problems and policy. It's really both.
652
00:41:37.119 --> 00:41:40.760
I think we're beyond the biology. We know everything we
653
00:41:40.840 --> 00:41:43.360
need to know about how to recover these birds, their
654
00:41:43.559 --> 00:41:49.239
reproduction release, you know all that. It's really now just
655
00:41:49.360 --> 00:41:53.639
down to changing behavior and modifying the market and policy
656
00:41:54.000 --> 00:41:57.079
so that it supports of self sustaining population in the
657
00:41:57.119 --> 00:41:57.559
long run.
658
00:41:59.199 --> 00:42:01.199
Most definitely. And that's the thing, you know, you've got
659
00:42:01.239 --> 00:42:04.679
to get people out there to talk to these lawmakers
660
00:42:04.719 --> 00:42:06.360
and stuff like that and let them know what they
661
00:42:06.400 --> 00:42:08.280
want done and everything and try to get them to
662
00:42:08.320 --> 00:42:12.559
do it. And that's obviously one way that everyday people
663
00:42:12.599 --> 00:42:16.119
can kind of help out, you know, to protect the
664
00:42:16.159 --> 00:42:20.199
condors and well not just condoors but other wildlife as well.
665
00:42:20.239 --> 00:42:23.159
But are there any other ways that people could kind
666
00:42:23.159 --> 00:42:26.199
of try to help out when it comes to helping
667
00:42:26.239 --> 00:42:29.320
to protect them, Well.
668
00:42:29.159 --> 00:42:32.039
There's definitely. You know, you can financially contribute to any
669
00:42:32.079 --> 00:42:34.480
of the groups that are directly working with the birds.
670
00:42:34.480 --> 00:42:38.840
And as you said, there's the policy issue depending on
671
00:42:38.880 --> 00:42:42.880
where you are. You know, condurs are only found in
672
00:42:43.039 --> 00:42:50.639
California and Arizona and Utah and Bach California, Mexico, so
673
00:42:51.199 --> 00:42:55.039
you know, somewhat limited there. There's no federal policy that
674
00:42:55.079 --> 00:42:59.519
I'm aware of it at this point in time, but
675
00:42:59.840 --> 00:43:03.079
we are we are hopeful that the federal government will
676
00:43:03.119 --> 00:43:09.199
begin funding at least a small match. Again, private partners
677
00:43:09.360 --> 00:43:12.760
contribute somewhere around seven to eight million dollars a year,
678
00:43:12.840 --> 00:43:16.199
and the federal government was was pitching it around a
679
00:43:16.239 --> 00:43:20.079
million and a half and then they stopped, and so
680
00:43:20.199 --> 00:43:22.840
now it's all falling on the private partners, and so
681
00:43:22.880 --> 00:43:25.920
we're in this difficult situation right now of how to
682
00:43:26.000 --> 00:43:28.440
you know, how to keep things going knowing there's so
683
00:43:28.519 --> 00:43:32.159
much work still to be done in the face of
684
00:43:32.239 --> 00:43:35.440
no federal funding and just you know, relying on private
685
00:43:35.440 --> 00:43:37.719
support makes it makes it a little tougher.
686
00:43:39.239 --> 00:43:40.440
Yeah, definitely.
687
00:43:40.760 --> 00:43:44.719
So yeah, sorry, And just to finish that thought, you know,
688
00:43:44.760 --> 00:43:48.800
you could call your federal you know, House the representatives
689
00:43:48.880 --> 00:43:51.079
or senator and tell them that he would like to
690
00:43:51.119 --> 00:43:55.000
see dedicated funding go forward the recovery of the co
691
00:43:55.079 --> 00:43:59.039
Afornia condor. And there is actually the federal lobbying effort
692
00:43:59.519 --> 00:44:04.639
underway at present to try to achieve that, and I'm
693
00:44:04.679 --> 00:44:07.239
participating in it. So I guess no matter where you are,
694
00:44:07.320 --> 00:44:10.519
you could you could call your representative and and tell
695
00:44:10.559 --> 00:44:14.480
them how much you want condors to to make it.
696
00:44:14.840 --> 00:44:16.840
And there's an opportunity for them to do that by
697
00:44:16.880 --> 00:44:21.599
increasing and putting back funding toward condo recovery.
698
00:44:22.400 --> 00:44:26.079
Yeah, yep, I know. I years ago went to the
699
00:44:26.079 --> 00:44:28.360
Grand Canyon with my kids and my niece and stuff,
700
00:44:28.400 --> 00:44:30.960
and I was really hoping to see some of the
701
00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:33.280
condors flying around up there, but I never did get
702
00:44:33.280 --> 00:44:37.679
to see any of them. Yeah, well that's okay, though,
703
00:44:37.760 --> 00:44:40.440
maybe one day I'll get to see someone up there.
704
00:44:41.480 --> 00:44:45.960
Come to Big sir Or Pinnacles National Park in Central California, Yeah,
705
00:44:46.000 --> 00:44:48.079
and I'll have another opportunity there.
706
00:44:48.519 --> 00:44:50.239
Well, there you go. If I ever make it over
707
00:44:50.280 --> 00:44:52.800
that way, I'll have to definitely go take a trip
708
00:44:52.840 --> 00:44:54.800
and see if I can see them, because I think
709
00:44:54.840 --> 00:44:57.360
that would be really cool to see him. Them bald
710
00:44:57.400 --> 00:44:59.679
eagles too, I would really like to see those. I've
711
00:44:59.719 --> 00:45:01.719
never seen one of them either, so I think it'd
712
00:45:01.760 --> 00:45:07.360
be cool. So now that you're kind of looking back
713
00:45:07.400 --> 00:45:10.239
over time and everything in your journey, what has this
714
00:45:10.320 --> 00:45:12.079
journey kind of meant to you personally?
715
00:45:21.320 --> 00:45:26.079
Well, one of the things that I'm really cherished about
716
00:45:26.320 --> 00:45:31.920
this opportunity is that it's given me lots of different experiences.
717
00:45:33.199 --> 00:45:35.480
I've learned a lot of different things and I never
718
00:45:35.519 --> 00:45:38.039
thought I would learn when I was a you know,
719
00:45:38.079 --> 00:45:43.360
a wildlife biologist and undergraduate school and then offered this
720
00:45:43.519 --> 00:45:49.880
opportunity way back when. So it's been tremendously fun to
721
00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:55.800
just learn so many different things, not just biology and science,
722
00:45:56.800 --> 00:46:01.800
but also you know, even fundraising and accounting and just
723
00:46:01.880 --> 00:46:05.159
kind of every aspect of what it takes or run
724
00:46:05.239 --> 00:46:08.360
a nonprofit and run a successful program and have a
725
00:46:08.400 --> 00:46:11.480
team of people that are motivated and excited to come
726
00:46:11.480 --> 00:46:14.199
to work every day and get work done, you know,
727
00:46:14.280 --> 00:46:22.760
and all of that's just been just tremendously rewarding. And
728
00:46:23.480 --> 00:46:27.239
you know, I just think to myself that if we
729
00:46:27.360 --> 00:46:31.119
can be truly successful with the California and Connor, that
730
00:46:31.199 --> 00:46:36.440
we will be creating hope for people all around the world,
731
00:46:37.039 --> 00:46:40.880
you know, people who care about wildlife anyway. I think
732
00:46:40.920 --> 00:46:44.320
it's an opportunity to instill hope because, you know, so
733
00:46:44.400 --> 00:46:48.639
many people thought that Connor was a goner. My wildlife
734
00:46:48.639 --> 00:46:52.480
professor and undergraduate school I remember vividly he's even saying that,
735
00:46:52.639 --> 00:46:54.280
He's like, oh, you know, Connor is going to go
736
00:46:54.320 --> 00:46:58.800
extinct in your lifetime, blah blah blah blah. And now
737
00:46:58.840 --> 00:47:01.320
here I am, you know, thirty years into an effort
738
00:47:01.360 --> 00:47:03.440
to try to reverse that. And it's just a really
739
00:47:03.800 --> 00:47:07.920
cool opportunity. I never thought I would have had that opportunity.
740
00:47:07.960 --> 00:47:13.360
So I'm blessed. I feel honored and just trying to
741
00:47:13.480 --> 00:47:14.320
do the best I can.
742
00:47:15.440 --> 00:47:18.840
Right I was in high school when those populations dropped
743
00:47:18.880 --> 00:47:22.920
down to that twenty two number. So I remember hearing
744
00:47:22.960 --> 00:47:25.519
about it, you know, hearing about the condors and that
745
00:47:25.559 --> 00:47:31.480
they were the population had declined really badly. So yeah, yeah,
746
00:47:31.679 --> 00:47:34.920
between that and the DDT and stuff that was used
747
00:47:35.159 --> 00:47:37.880
with the with the bs and stuff like that too.
748
00:47:38.000 --> 00:47:41.480
So yeah, we've done a lot of things to harm
749
00:47:41.880 --> 00:47:46.119
our environment. Be nice to start turning it up.
750
00:47:48.840 --> 00:47:50.800
Sorry I didn't mean interrupt, but I was just going
751
00:47:50.840 --> 00:47:52.880
to say, you're absolutely right. We sure have messed up
752
00:47:52.880 --> 00:47:55.079
a lot of things. But it's you know, it's really
753
00:47:55.079 --> 00:47:59.599
hopeful when when something is returned back to nature and recovered,
754
00:48:00.039 --> 00:48:02.760
where you know, a whole chunk of land is restored,
755
00:48:03.800 --> 00:48:06.760
or a damn is removed and a river can flow
756
00:48:06.840 --> 00:48:09.079
freely again and the salmon can go upstream.
757
00:48:09.199 --> 00:48:11.480
You know, all those kinds of things, they give hope,
758
00:48:11.559 --> 00:48:15.719
right yep, most definitely, And you know that's what the
759
00:48:15.719 --> 00:48:18.800
world needs nowadays, is I think a little more hope
760
00:48:18.880 --> 00:48:22.079
to keep carrying on with the way things are going.
761
00:48:22.320 --> 00:48:27.599
But well, we're kind of winding down on the podcast,
762
00:48:27.800 --> 00:48:32.360
so basically, I guess one last thing we'd like to
763
00:48:32.400 --> 00:48:36.039
do before we end this is let people know where
764
00:48:36.039 --> 00:48:39.440
they can learn more about California condor or about the
765
00:48:39.880 --> 00:48:42.760
Ventura Wildlife Society.
766
00:48:43.400 --> 00:48:46.760
Oh well, actually, could you say that again? This a
767
00:48:46.800 --> 00:48:48.760
ton of wildlife society?
768
00:48:51.039 --> 00:48:51.880
Does it wrong?
769
00:48:53.119 --> 00:48:55.320
Yeah, No, it's okay, it's it's it's common, it's.
770
00:48:57.400 --> 00:49:01.599
Wildlife society. Okay, sorry about that, No problem.
771
00:49:01.599 --> 00:49:03.679
Well yeah, there's lots of ways to stay involved, even
772
00:49:03.719 --> 00:49:07.039
if you're remote and living anywhere in the world. We
773
00:49:07.400 --> 00:49:13.320
have live streaming cameras. We also have a tool called
774
00:49:13.320 --> 00:49:16.719
Condor Spotters, so if you do see the condors in person,
775
00:49:17.000 --> 00:49:19.639
you can identify the individual with the tag that's on
776
00:49:19.679 --> 00:49:21.880
their wing and then learn all about the bird, it's
777
00:49:21.920 --> 00:49:29.440
its history and it's biography. On monthly meetings on zoom
778
00:49:29.760 --> 00:49:32.719
and on our YouTube channel, and the last Thursday of
779
00:49:32.760 --> 00:49:35.000
the month, we have what we call the Condor Chat,
780
00:49:35.519 --> 00:49:40.159
and our team of biologists provide updates from the field
781
00:49:40.639 --> 00:49:44.519
to all of our supporters and whoever's listening in at
782
00:49:44.559 --> 00:49:49.079
the time, and been doing that since twenty twenty. Of course,
783
00:49:49.119 --> 00:49:54.480
you can donate in Our website is fentanaws dot org.
784
00:49:54.639 --> 00:49:58.559
Like it's in Ventana Wildlife Society. We have an event
785
00:49:58.679 --> 00:50:02.119
in Carmel Valley on June seventh, coming up, and there's
786
00:50:02.159 --> 00:50:06.159
even an online auction component to that, which is from
787
00:50:06.159 --> 00:50:09.360
May twenty eighth to June eighth, So even if you're
788
00:50:09.679 --> 00:50:13.119
in Arizona, where you are or wherever, you could participate
789
00:50:13.400 --> 00:50:18.199
and everyone who signs up for the auction or tens
790
00:50:18.239 --> 00:50:22.840
in person will have an opportunity to win a trip
791
00:50:22.880 --> 00:50:24.719
with me to go see the condors at the Connor
792
00:50:24.800 --> 00:50:25.960
Sanctuary in Big Sir.
793
00:50:26.599 --> 00:50:28.159
Oh, that's very cool.
794
00:50:29.480 --> 00:50:29.760
Boy.
795
00:50:29.840 --> 00:50:33.719
I hope, I hope people will will get involved and
796
00:50:33.800 --> 00:50:36.760
get in put in some bids at your auction and stuff.
797
00:50:36.800 --> 00:50:39.639
I'm glad you threw that out there so people knew
798
00:50:39.639 --> 00:50:41.440
about that, So that'd be really cool to be able
799
00:50:41.519 --> 00:50:44.079
to win a trip to go see the condors.
800
00:50:45.440 --> 00:50:47.960
Well, and like you mentioned, with that federal funding change,
801
00:50:48.000 --> 00:50:50.920
we definitely could use the support. So thanks for asking
802
00:50:50.960 --> 00:50:53.760
about that, and thanks so much for having me on
803
00:50:53.800 --> 00:50:54.480
your podcast.
804
00:50:54.960 --> 00:50:57.519
Well, I'm glad that you were able to join me
805
00:50:57.599 --> 00:51:00.639
tonight to give us more information about the calif Condor
806
00:51:00.639 --> 00:51:03.960
and how they're doing nowadays. It was great being able
807
00:51:04.000 --> 00:51:06.840
to talk with you, but you are more than welcome.
808
00:51:06.840 --> 00:51:09.239
I'm going to announce my next couple podcasts coming up,
809
00:51:09.239 --> 00:51:11.159
and you're more than welcome to jump off because I
810
00:51:11.199 --> 00:51:13.840
know people have things to do, or you can stay
811
00:51:13.840 --> 00:51:16.719
on if you want and listen to my upcoming announcements,
812
00:51:16.719 --> 00:51:17.480
but that's up to you.
813
00:51:18.400 --> 00:51:20.280
So all right, thank you so much.
814
00:51:20.480 --> 00:51:22.360
All right, thanks for being on again. Thanks Kelly.
815
00:51:23.480 --> 00:51:25.079
Okay, bye bye, worry bye.
816
00:51:28.039 --> 00:51:32.199
All right, everybody, So we're just going to go ahead
817
00:51:32.440 --> 00:51:37.760
and talk about the next upcoming podcast. I thought that
818
00:51:37.920 --> 00:51:41.079
was so great to have Kelly on with me tonight
819
00:51:41.239 --> 00:51:44.960
and get all this great information about the California condors
820
00:51:44.960 --> 00:51:47.440
and all the conservation efforts that's been going on since
821
00:51:47.519 --> 00:51:51.000
the nineties and and everything they've been doing. And like
822
00:51:51.039 --> 00:51:54.360
I said, I remember when hearing about the condor population
823
00:51:55.360 --> 00:51:58.079
tanking like it did, and it was crazy and we
824
00:51:58.119 --> 00:52:00.880
did really I mean, I know if you're younger, you
825
00:52:00.880 --> 00:52:04.960
guys don't remember that stuff. But yeah, we weren't sure
826
00:52:04.960 --> 00:52:07.760
if we were gonna have California condors around anymore. We
827
00:52:07.800 --> 00:52:10.719
thought we were gonna lose them all. So so good
828
00:52:10.719 --> 00:52:13.000
to hear that they've been able to bring them back
829
00:52:13.039 --> 00:52:15.559
and that we now have over six hundred of them
830
00:52:15.559 --> 00:52:17.800
out in the wild. That's pretty cool. So and it's
831
00:52:17.840 --> 00:52:20.079
good news, good news. We don't want to lose those birds.
832
00:52:20.119 --> 00:52:23.840
They're really cool, all right. And with that being said,
833
00:52:23.960 --> 00:52:30.880
so my next podcast is actually called Buzzkill or Breakthrough.
834
00:52:31.320 --> 00:52:35.159
It's the truth about honeybee health. And I'm gonna have
835
00:52:35.920 --> 00:52:40.039
Matthew Milica and with me from the Honeybee Health Coalition.
836
00:52:40.119 --> 00:52:43.599
I hope I said Matthew's name correctly, and we are
837
00:52:43.679 --> 00:52:49.000
going to talk all sorts of stuff about honeybees and
838
00:52:49.039 --> 00:52:52.599
their health and how they're doing. Because I don't know
839
00:52:52.639 --> 00:52:54.280
if you guys have heard this or not, but you
840
00:52:54.320 --> 00:52:59.119
do know that the honeybee populations have also been in declining,
841
00:52:59.239 --> 00:53:01.280
and I don't know how if you guys realized if
842
00:53:01.320 --> 00:53:04.599
we lose honeybees, that is not a good thing. Those
843
00:53:04.639 --> 00:53:09.360
are our pollinators. Those are agricultural little workers that helped
844
00:53:09.440 --> 00:53:12.159
pollinate all of that stuff and for all the fruit
845
00:53:12.239 --> 00:53:15.159
and the food and stuff that we have. So we
846
00:53:15.199 --> 00:53:18.239
really don't want to lose our honeybees, and we certainly
847
00:53:18.320 --> 00:53:23.159
don't want Africanized bees taking over either. So anyway, Matthew's
848
00:53:23.159 --> 00:53:28.079
going to come on and talk with me on May
849
00:53:28.119 --> 00:53:32.079
twenty eighth about honeybees and how they're doing and what
850
00:53:32.119 --> 00:53:35.000
we can do to help with honeybees. So if you're
851
00:53:35.119 --> 00:53:37.880
interested in that topic, please come on back and listen
852
00:53:37.920 --> 00:53:40.960
on May twenty eighth, and then the next one after
853
00:53:41.000 --> 00:53:43.400
that is going to be on June eleventh. And I
854
00:53:43.400 --> 00:53:46.800
think this is really a cool one. It's Project freedom
855
00:53:46.880 --> 00:53:51.880
Ride and that is Roman and Jennifer maccon. Roman is
856
00:53:52.079 --> 00:53:55.719
thirteen now. He started Project freedom Ride with his mom
857
00:53:55.800 --> 00:53:59.760
and dad helping out back when I think he was aroung.
858
00:54:00.159 --> 00:54:03.079
I want to say it was five. I want to
859
00:54:03.119 --> 00:54:06.440
say five, but anyway, so he's been doing it for
860
00:54:06.440 --> 00:54:09.719
a number of years now and he's helping his family
861
00:54:09.760 --> 00:54:13.559
and him help these dogs and stuff get transported to
862
00:54:14.880 --> 00:54:17.480
where they may be able to be adopted and stuff
863
00:54:17.559 --> 00:54:19.559
like that. When they're you know, maybe not going to
864
00:54:19.559 --> 00:54:21.599
get adopted in one area, they get them to another
865
00:54:22.320 --> 00:54:24.599
and they're in Georgia and they're operating there and doing
866
00:54:24.639 --> 00:54:27.280
this and I'm not sure how far they go. But
867
00:54:27.320 --> 00:54:30.039
we're going to find out all about Project freedom Ride
868
00:54:30.079 --> 00:54:33.559
from Roman and Jennifer on June eleventh, and they're going
869
00:54:33.639 --> 00:54:35.920
to tell us all about what they do and how
870
00:54:35.960 --> 00:54:37.719
long they've been doing it and why they started it.
871
00:54:37.760 --> 00:54:40.199
But I think it's a really cool thing when you
872
00:54:40.280 --> 00:54:44.960
have a kid like Roman that wants to get involved
873
00:54:45.039 --> 00:54:48.320
and help rescue animals and do what he can to
874
00:54:48.360 --> 00:54:52.360
make sure, you know, they find good homes. So I
875
00:54:52.440 --> 00:54:55.800
think that'll be great, and hopefully you guys and you
876
00:54:55.920 --> 00:54:58.119
guys and your kids will all be able to listen
877
00:54:58.159 --> 00:55:01.679
in on June eleventh learn more about Project Freedom Right.
878
00:55:02.199 --> 00:55:05.599
So anyway, that's the next couple of podcasts that I
879
00:55:05.639 --> 00:55:08.320
got coming up, and hopefully you guys will be able
880
00:55:08.320 --> 00:55:11.519
to come back and listen to The Buzzkiller Breakthrough Truth
881
00:55:11.559 --> 00:55:15.840
about Honeybee Health and with Matthew, and then again on
882
00:55:15.920 --> 00:55:19.440
June eleventh when I have Roman and Jennifer on and
883
00:55:19.480 --> 00:55:23.119
we talk about Project Freedom Right. So I'm looking forward
884
00:55:23.119 --> 00:55:25.280
to both those podcasts. I think they're gonna be really good.
885
00:55:26.840 --> 00:55:29.280
And with that being said, that pretty much wraps up
886
00:55:29.320 --> 00:55:31.800
the podcast for tonight, you guys. I don't know if
887
00:55:31.840 --> 00:55:36.599
you've noticed, but I did change my profile picture, artwork
888
00:55:36.599 --> 00:55:40.079
and stuff like that. I kind of upgraded and updated it.
889
00:55:40.119 --> 00:55:42.679
I think it turned out really well and it looks good.
890
00:55:43.280 --> 00:55:46.119
So hopefully you guys like the new change of change
891
00:55:46.159 --> 00:55:50.760
up of that. I like it and happy. So anyway,
892
00:55:51.159 --> 00:55:53.119
all right, you guys, I hope you all stay safe
893
00:55:53.159 --> 00:55:55.719
out there this weekend. Don't get into too much trouble
894
00:55:55.880 --> 00:56:01.280
doing things and go enjoy and have fun wherever you're at.
895
00:56:02.039 --> 00:56:03.840
All right, have a good night now