California condor - are they worth saving?

California condor I photographed at the San Diego Zoo,
superimposed upon a full moon that I photographed this year.

Down to a population of 22 individuals in 1982, California condors were on a fast track to extinction.  As North America's largest bird with a 10-foot wingspan, saving them would be a daunting task.  The birds take 6 to 8 years to mature and then lay only a single egg.  They are vultures and feed on the remains of animals.  Many died from eating lead shot from abandoned kills or from strychnine poisoning when they ate wildlife that had been killed directly or indirectly by the chemical.   And then there were the losses due to direct hunting, either out of ignorance or greed.

Protecting them in the wild would be almost impossible, so the unthinkable was done.  Every single bird would be captured and looked after, bred in captivity and released in the wild.  Today there are about 600 individuals; half of them are held captive and the other half range free.  Their slow rate of reproduction means that the program will have to continue well into the future.

The cost of this is equally amazing.  By 2010, about $40 million had been spent, probably worth about double that in today's dollars.  Add to that the maintenance and monitoring cost of about $5 million per year, and you have already spent well over $100 million.  And the cost continues to rise.  This raises the question, "Are they worth saving?"

The short answer, I believe, is "Yes."  

If we could go back in time to save species like the passenger pigeon, the dodo, the great auk, and so on, wouldn't it be worth the effort?  The entire reason species like these go extinct is because of a lack of education.  The value of any one species that makes up a biological community is incalculable.  There is the issue of using lead shot or chemicals to kill problem animals.  There is a shortage of respect for life.  As we destroy habitat, remove forests, employ monoculture farming, cause global warming and pollute our planet, we are inadvertently destroying ourselves.

Saving one species is a good start.  If we really thought about it, the species we should be saving is us.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com