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Growing up hatching at the Los Angeles Zoo, California’s Condor died of lead poisoning just months after being released into the wild, announced by a native Northern California tribe.
A young bird known as the Pey-noh-pey-o-wok’ (Spirit Bird), was part of the Yurok Northern California condor repair program, flying freely in the wild more than three months before its death in January.
At just 18 months old, Pey-noh-pey-owok’ is the youngest condor in the Northern California flock and was one of the 18 birds reintroduced to the Yurok Ancestral Lands since 2022.
Pey-noh-pey-o-wok’, a condor reintroduced to Northern California as part of the conservation program, is shown in this undated photo of the Jurok tribe. Condor died of lead poisoning in January 2025, officials said.
The NCCRP delayed the announcement of the condor’s death until an official pathology report confirmed lead poisoning as a cause.
“Natural death would not have been much pain for us, we see humans beginning to thrive in the wild,” said Tiana Williams Klausen, director of the Urok Tribe’s Wildlife Division. “It’s devastating that he was being held by a human and preventable.”
Lead poisoning remains the primary cause of deaths in wild condors, which accounts for almost half of known deaths. Almost all cases come from the ingestion of carrion (animal corpses) contaminated by lead ammunition used in hunting games, livestock and pests.
“A small fragment of lead bullet is enough to kill not only condors but vultures and eagles,” the Yuroks wrote on social media. “These important scavengers are important to remove corpses from the landscape and reduce the spread spread of diseases in many game species.”
Pey-noh-pey-o-wok’, or B7, a condor reintroduced to Northern California as part of the conservation program, is shown in a September 2024 photo from the Yurok tribe.
The Condor is one of 18 free-flying condors released as part of the NCCRP program, a collaborative effort in collaboration with the National Park Service, led by the Yurok tribes and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The birds are seen exploring large bands of historic range, from the Eel River to the Smith River to the north, officials said.
Despite the deaths caused by the human bird, the tribe continues to pursue the goal of restoring the condor in Northern California for the first time in over a century.
“Death is part of our work with wildlife, but he was a challenge as our first loss,” said Chris West, program manager and senior biologist at Yurok Tribe. “Thankfully, there are 17 other amazing birds in our flock that carry our hope.”
The Jurok tribe is California’s largest federally recognized indigenous group, with ancestral lands in Northern California, located in parts of Humboldt and Del Norte counties.
Click here for more information about Northern California’s Condor Repair Program and Yurok species conservation efforts.
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