The Center for Biological Diversity recently announced a $15,000 reward for information “leading to the arrest and conviction” of whoever shot and killed a California condor in March this year.
The killing happened in Montezuma County, northeast of Lewis and west of McPhee Reservoir.
“It’s concerning because it seems to be a pattern emerging in the Great Basin,” said Tara Zuardo, a senior advocate at the center offering the reward.
Most of Nevada, half of Utah and parts of Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon and California make up the area known as The Great Basin.
The $15,000 reward might seem high, but it’s not uncommon. In fact, the Center announced a $20,000 reward in July after two California condors were killed near Cedar City, Utah.
“It needs to be a high amount,” said Zuardo. “It increases the likelihood of getting information.”
The condor killings in Utah happened nearly two years apart, but because they both happened in the same area north of Zion National Park, they’re concerned whoever did it might be a serial offender.
“’California condors are emblems of the American West, and it’s grotesque that these majestic birds were so senselessly gunned down,’” said Patrick Donnelly, the Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity in a release about the Utah killings.
California condors are the largest land birds on the continent, with wingspans reaching 10 feet and bodies four to 5 feet long. They mate for life and live up to 60 years.
In the 1980s, their population dipped to 22 birds.
To avoid extinction, zoos in California captured the dwindling population and underwent captive breeding. They were reintroduced to the wild in California in 1992, and reintroductions slowly followed in other Great Basin states.
With protection under the Endangered Species Act and Migratory Bird Act, California condor populations have grown to over 500 birds today.
It’s rare to see these birds, especially in Colorado. They’ve only entered the state once or twice in a decade, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
In 2014, a seasonal ranger at Mesa Verde spotted one south of Dolores and snapped photos. The condor was from the Grand Canyon and tagged N8, so people started calling him Nate. He returned to the area in 2019.
“Condors could be one of the success stories of the Endangered Species Act, but they’ll never recover if people can kill them with impunity. I hope someone does the right thing and comes forward to bring justice for this heinous crime,” Donnelly said in a release.
Tips can be submitted to Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s Game Thief Hotline at 1-877-COLO-OGT (1-877-265-6648) or game.thief@state.co.us. Tips can also be submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tip line at 844-397-8477.
