It has been quite surreal and a nightmarish déjà vu for keepers here at the Wild Animal Park to see all that our Condor Partners from the Ventana Wildlife Society have been through in the last couple of months because of the Basin Fire in the Big Sur area.

It seems like it was just yesterday that we were walking through our incinerated Condor Facility after the Witch Creek fire, wondering a million and one “What Ifs” while at the same time feeling immensely thankful that were we able to get all our birds out in time. Those feelings of gratefulness were quickly followed by feelings of enormous uncertainty. What would we do with one less building? Would we still be able to house all of our birds? What would we do with our release candidates? Would we be ready for the fast approaching breeding season? These might not be the same questions that those at the Ventana Wildlife Society are asking themselves at this moment, but we imagine that the feelings behind their questions are pretty much the same as ours were.

All it took last October to again lift our spirits was to see the resiliency of these magnificent birds we work with and care for so passionately. They were a little dirtier that usual, having spent almost two days in their evacuation crates, but all were well. The Big Sur condors also have done remarkably well after all they have endured. One of the biologists from Ventana reported that ten of their condors found a dead sea lion that had washed ashore and were most likely going to spend the next week feasting on such a great find. With all the hard work the field crew does to ensure that these wild condors have enough food and water available to them, it must be priceless to see how well they are doing on their own in such challenging times.

Unfortunately, two young condors from the Big Sur flock were lost in the fire. The male, #278, was a parent-reared bird that hatched here at the Wild Animal Park during the 2002 breeding season, and the female, #377, was a parent-reared bird that hatched at the Los Angeles Zoo during the 2005 breeding season. This is quite a heartbreaking loss and our thoughts go out to those who watched over them in the field.

Although much was lost in these devastating fires, it is encouraging to see that the California condor recovery program is still going strong. Just as the structures that were lost at the Wild Animal Park are now being rebuilt, so will those that were lost in Ventana. Please consider making a donation to help the California condors rise again from the ashes by clicking here.

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