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Case #940 Rating: 3.7 out of 5
Endangered condor shot to death
Kern County, CA (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Feb 13, 2003
County: Kern
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Britton Cole Lewis
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
A reward topping $30,000 is being offered for information in last month's shooting of one of the last original wild California condors. The reward will be paid for information leading to an arrest and conviction for the shooting of the giant bird dubbed Adult Condor 8, found dead Feb. 13 on a Kern County ranch.
About 80 endangered condors remain in the wild in Arizona and California, but AC-8 was one of the few born in the wild. She was captured in 1986, one of the last caught for the breeding program to save the giant birds from extinction.
She hatched about 12 eggs in captivity before she was freed in April 2000, one of the first of the original wild birds to be released.
She was recaptured last fall and spent more than six weeks in a zoo hospital being treated for lead poison from lead fragments it is believed she consumed from ammunition in a carcass. She was rereleased Dec. 23, and was believed to be at least 30 years old and possibly as old as 40 when she was killed.
The Wendy P. McCaw Foundation of Santa Barbara pledged $25,000 toward the reward fund established by conservation groups, bringing the fund total now to $31,500. The foundation supports animal welfare and wildlife protection efforts, including condor protection efforts.
The groups said their reward offer will stand through the end of 2004.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also has offered an unspecified reward as part of its investigation. Killing a member of an endangered species can bring a year in jail and a $100,000 fine.
Anyone with information can call the federal Fish and Wildlife Service at 916-414-6664 or the California Department of Fish and Game's CalTIP Program at 888-DFG-CALTIP.
The long-lived scavengers breed slowly, and had been in sharp decline due to habitat loss, collisions with power lines and lead or cyanide poisoning from eating hunted or bait carcasses.
By the 1980s, there were only 15 left, and scientists decided to capture the remainder in 1987. They began releases back into the wild in 1992, after the population had grown to more than 60.
Besides the wild population, 118 condors remain at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the Los Angeles Zoo. Biologists are considering establishing a third wild population in southern New Mexico.
Case UpdatesBritton Cole Lewis, charged with shooting AC-8 in February 2003, pled guilty to the charge in May 2003 and faced sentencing in August. Charges were filed under the Migratory Bird Act and the Lacey Act. The charge under the Migratory Bird Act is a misdemeanor and carries a penalty of up to 6 months in prison and a fine of up to $15,000. The charge under the Lacey Act carries a penalty of up to 1 year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
Lewis was ordered to pay $20,000 and sentenced to five years probation.
"I can honestly say I knew nothing about these condors," Lewis told a magistrate judge before sentencing. "I sincerely wish I could take back what I've done."
Since 1992, five California condors have been shot and killed. Nearly 200 remain alive today, including 79 in the wild.
Lewis also was fined and sentenced to three years probation for killing a white-tailed deer in Illinois in 2001. Lewis pleaded guilty to falsely saying he was a resident to obtain a hunting permit there. It became a federal crime when he brought the deer's mounted head to California in April 2002. | Source: US Fish and Wildife - Sept 2003
Update posted on Oct 18, 2005 - 9:46AM |
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