In November, one of the oldest condors in Central California died from lead poisoning after being found with tiny bullet fragments and a .22-caliber slug in his gullet that he apparently swallowed with a mouthful of meat.
The 9-year-old giant was one of the earliest released in a condor recovery program along the Big Sur coast. His death — and the recent death of a golden eagle near Sacramento — are being highlighted by health and environmental groups who want California to become the first state to impose a statewide ban on the use of lead bullets for hunting.
California lawmakers weigh first statewide ban on lead ammo | Fox News
Wind farms are going to make raptors extinct in California. Green energy insanity is the biggest threat to California wildlife.
Wind power turbines in Altamont Pass threaten protected birds
Scores of golden eagles have been killed after striking the thousands of wind turbines in the Bay Area, raising questions about California’s move toward alternative power.
The death count, averaging 67 a year for three decades, worries field biologists because the turbines, which have been providing thousands of homes with emissions-free electricity since the 1980s, lie within a region of rolling grasslands and riparian canyons containing one of the highest densities of nesting golden eagles in the United States.
“It would take 167 pairs of local nesting golden eagles to produce enough young to compensate for their mortality rate related to wind energy production,” said field biologist Doug Bell, manager of East Bay Regional Park District’s wildlife program. “We only have 60 pairs.”
Gov. Jerry Brown in April signed into law a mandate that a third of the electricity used in California come from renewable sources, including wind and solar, by 2020. The new law is the most aggressive of any state.
Clean energy: Clean energy clashes with safety of protected bird species – Los Angeles Times
