Poacher Shoots One of the Last Original California Condors

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, working closely with the California Department of Fish and Game, is investigating the senseless shooting and killing of Adult Condor 8, one of the last California condors taken into captivity in the 1980s and a matriarch of the captive-breeding program. AC-8 was found dead on February 13, and a subsequent necropsy determined that the bird died of gunshot.

No arrests have been made.

One of only a few dozen endangered California condors in the wild, AC-8 was the last female condor captured in 1986 in a last-ditch effort to save the species from extinction. She spent 14 years in captivity in the captive-breeding program and was the first of the original wild birds to be released in April 2000.