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Show Four More Condors Will Be Released In Arizona Four California condors will be transported from the Los Angeles Zoo to their release site atop the Vermilion Cliffs of northern Arizona on Thursday, Sept. 25. The birds will be flown in a Bureau of Land Management C26A aircraft from Burbank, Calif., and are scheduled to arrive at the airport in Page, Ariz., at 11:30 a.m. The condors, in four shrouded kennels, will be loaded onto a Salt River Project helicopter heli-copter and lifted to the cliff site in two trips. The young condors will be placed in a release facility by Peregrine Fund biologists for an adjustment period until mid-November mid-November when they will be freed to join the six females and five males that currently inhabit the area. The December 1996 release of six condors at Vermilion Cliffs initiated a cooperative effort to reestablish a population of California Cali-fornia condors in the Southwest. Nine additional condors were released in May. Two of the birds have died (due to a golden eagle attack and a collision with a power structure), one was returned re-turned to captivity as a result of its frequent encounters with humans, hu-mans, one had been missing from radio contact since early August, and another was captured and held for emergency medical treatment and recovery and then returned to the wild population. "Given that these birds would normally be taken care of by their parents, the few incidents thus far are to be expected," said Terry Johnson, Non-Game Branch Chief for Arizona Game and Fish Department. De-partment. "Still, we hope that in the future the more experienced birds in the wild will model the necessary skills for inexperienced, inexperi-enced, newly-released birds to survive." The 1 1 birds have soared up to 190 miles northeast of the release area and have made long flights in all directions, including over the Grand Canyon. |