FLAGSTAFF — High on the list of critically endangered animals is the California condor, an animal whose populations at one point consisted of only 20 birds in the wild. Now, the condors are making a remarkable recovery with more than 70 wild condors in Arizona alone, and more than 400 on the planet.
“This is all overshadowed by the fact that birds are still dying,” said Chris Parish, condor biologist with the Peregrine Fund. “The ultimate success is the recovery of the species.”
A major cause of death found in condors over the last 60 years of recovery has been lead poisoning, primarily caused by lead ammunition used during hunting season. When a big game animal is shot, the bullet fragments and shattered pieces become scattered throughout the carcass. When hunters leave the guts and other pieces of the animal, scavengers ingest the fragments and become sick. The pieces of one bullet may not seem like much, but Game and Fish biologists showed that one single shot could yield 450 fragments.
Therefore, to help the condor population, hunters must switch to non-lead ammunition, or pack up the entire animal when they leave the field. This has sparked a debate over whether to legally regulate ammunition in Arizona hunting.
“You can change laws and you can change it on paper, but you have to change the minds and the hearts of people,” Parish said.
He believes that regulation without public education would lead to hunters shutting down and rejecting the ban. Instead, he hopes to help condors by informing and incentivizing hunters to help save the birds themselves.
“Science without the social sciences is not conservation,” he said.
Arizona Game and Fish has implemented voluntary initiatives to encourage hunters to use non-lead ammunition, such as giving away non-lead bullets, and providing incentives for bringing in gut piles. These programs have had success already, with an overall 91 percent compliance rate, based on hunter field and phone surveys.
However, it doesn’t take much lead to kill a condor.
Though they’re the biggest raptor in North America, they can be brought down by only 3 grains of lead. Therefore, it requires almost a 100 percent compliance rate to see long-term changes and improve the stability of the species.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Sierra Club and its representatives believe strongly that a ban on lead ammunition would work in Arizona, and could lead to condor population stability.
“We never objected to the education efforts of Game and Fish,” said Sandy Bahr, a Sierra Club member who works with Grand Canyon Legislation. “But our argument is that it’s not enough.”
Bahr has a background in environmental studies, so she too is interested in public outreach and education programs, and the overall recovery of the species. However, she does not agree with the idea that regulation will scare hunters into non-compliance.
“There are some people who aren’t going to take it seriously until there’s a regulation in place.” Bahr said. “For some people, education is enough but for those that it isn’t, a ban, and the enforcement of that, is important.”
Now, the condor population has been traveling beyond the border to Utah, where there is no regulation on non-lead, and little efforts toward a voluntary non-lead program. As more of the birds move this direction, it becomes pressing to start on conservation efforts. Arizona will need to act as a leader in solving this issue to pave the way for new efforts in Utah and show what methods work best, Bahr said.
The current 91 percent lead reduction compliance rate is a great start, she added, but the remaining 10 percent non-compliance still poses a threat to population stability. If Arizona can prevent more condor deaths due to human-caused problems, it will show Arizona’s potential to conserve other wildlife, too.
“The symbolic value of their recovery is pretty important,” Bahr said. “To me, it just chokes you up when you see them out there soaring out at the Grand Canyon.”
Whether regulation is implemented in the future, the unaided survival of the species in the long term depends on the compliance of hunters. The conservation of the species doesn’t come down to a science or any tried and tested method, but rather an effort to implement change.
“As with most things these days, it’s not about the biology and the understanding of the species,” Parish said. “It’s understanding the social dynamics of our own species that has everything to do with conservation … That’s my passion.”
