A four-month-old condor chick hatched in the wild last May was airlifted to the Los Angeles Zoo for treatment. On September 9, during an examination by a team of biologists, a zookeeper and a veterinarian, the chick was found to be suffering from a blockage of the digestive track and signs of respiratory distress. The team had entered the nest cave in the Los Padres National Forest to administer the West Nile Virus Vaccine, affix tags and transmitters to its wings, and give the chick a physical examination. The examination revealed it to be underweight and undersize for its age and to have foreign objects lodged in its crop. (The crop is a muscular pouch located in front of a birds neck near the throat. It is essentially a part of the esophagus and functions as a storage place for food.)
It was then decided to remove the chick from the nest for a full examination. The chick was flown by helicopter to the Los Angeles Zoo on September 11. The chick regurgitated the items during the night at the zoo and they turned out to be a combination of plastic, glass, bone and metal. The veterinarian staff determined that the chick
