Imperial Valley News

Escondido, California - Keepers at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park fed a 2-day-old California condor chick, the first for the 2008 season, for the first time Monday. A second chick is expected to hatch any time, while four eggs are still being incubated.

The hatchling, the 140th at the Wild Animal Park, will be raised through the process of puppet rearing, in which keepers feed the chick with a condor puppet to disguise their presence. At a month old, the chick will be gradually introduced to visual contact with other condors. By five to six months of age, the condor chick will fledge and join a mentor bird that will teach the youngster how to behave like a condor in preparation for possible release into the wild.

The California condor was near extinction in the 1980s when the world population of this species hit a low of 22 individuals. Since then, thanks to a multi-agency effort, the condor now numbers nearly 300 birds.

The California Condor Recovery Program is built upon a foundation of private and public partnerships. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service implements the recovery program in partnership with other U.S. and Mexican government agencies, the Zoological Society of San Diego, Los Angeles Zoo, The Peregrine Fund, Oregon Zoo, Chapultepec Zoo, Ventana Wilderness Society and the National Park Service among others.