A uncommon California condor passing via southwestern Colorado was shot and killed this yr and state and federal authorities on Wednesday requested the general public to assist observe down these accountable.
A critically endangered species, condors flying within the wild and rugged canyons of northern Arizona and southern Utah quantity solely 85 – a inhabitants onerous hit in 2023 by avian influenza. They’re seldom seen in Colorado. However in late March this yr, someone killed one in a distant space northeast of Lewis and west of McPhee Reservoir in Montezuma County, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers stated in a information launch.
This huge useless chicken was found about 24 hours after it was killed, CPW officers said.
“Earlier leads haven’t yielded outcomes,” the officers stated, so CPW and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officers are asking for any info concerning the killing and those that are accountable.
California condors are protected below the Endangered Species Act, which implies it’s unlawful for anybody to harass, hurt, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, entice, seize, or gather them. Anybody concerned in killing this condor might face a third-degree felony cost of wanton destruction of protected wildlife, with a most high-quality of $5,000, restitution of $1,500, and a five-year jail sentence, CPW officers stated.
In 1987, the California condor inhabitants had declined to simply 22 birds within the wild. A federally led restoration program has relied on captive breeding and launch of condors. The overall world inhabitants numbers greater than 560, officers stated. Greater than half are flying free in Arizona, Utah, California, and Mexico.
Anyone with details about the chicken’s killing can name the Colorado Operation Sport Thief hotline at 1-877-265-6648, ship an e mail to recreation.thief@state.co.us, notify federal authorities by calling 844-397-8477, or submit it through cpw.state.co.us/searching/poaching-and-operation-game-thief. Anyone offering info that results in a profitable prosecution could also be eligible for a reward, CPW and USFWS officers stated, including that any requests for confidentiality might be revered.