Wildlife officials to release 4 captive-raised condors in northern Arizona

The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) will release four captive California condors into the wild on Sept. 26.

The release of the condors will be done at the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in northern Coconino County as part of National Public Lands Day. The condors will join the Arizona-Utah flock. The event will be streamed live on YouTube.

The Peregrine Fund and the Bureau of Land Management have hosted the annual condor release since 1996.

The condors were born and raised at the Oregon Zoo and the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho, as part of a breeding program to help “bolster the wild population and increase genetic diversity of the flock,” according to a news release.

The species roamed from California to Florida and Western Canada to Northern Mexico, but the condor population began declining in the middle of the 20th century. 

The species was listed as endangered as part of the Endangered Species Act in the 1960’s.

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