{"id":999379,"date":"2026-08-14T02:24:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T02:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/999379\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T02:24:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T02:24:28","slug":"california-condors-released-as-timber-fire-threatened-sanctuary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/999379\/","title":{"rendered":"California condors released as Timber Fire threatened sanctuary"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 California condors released in Big Sur as Timber Fire threatened sanctuary<\/p>\n

Two California condors are back in the wild after the Timber Fire forced wildlife experts to release the birds earlier than planned from the California Condor Sanctuary in Big Sur.<\/p>\n

\"CassadyMONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two California condors are back in the wild after the Timber Fire forced wildlife experts to release the birds earlier than planned from the California Condor Sanctuary in Big Sur.<\/p>\n

Ventana Wildlife Society Executive Director Kelly Sorenson said condors 868 and 340 were successfully released from the sanctuary with help from CAL FIRE and the U.S. Forest Service.<\/p>\n

The two birds had recently returned to the sanctuary after being treated for lead poisoning at the Oakland Zoo and Los Angeles Zoo. They were being held at the facility as part of their recovery before the Timber Fire created a new threat.<\/p>\n

As the fire approached the sanctuary, access to the property was closed, limiting options for the Ventana Wildlife Society team.<\/p>\n

Sorenson said staff members were prepared to hike into the sanctuary if necessary to reach the birds. Instead, a coordinated effort involving the U.S. Forest Service and CAL FIRE allowed Ventana Wildlife Society Condor Program Manager Joe Burnett to enter the sanctuary with a CAL FIRE escort.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"Image<\/p>\n

Burnett was able to reach the facility and open the pen, allowing both condors to fly free.<\/p>\n

“Both condors flew off well and are now back in the wild where they belong,” Sorenson said.<\/p>\n

The organization credited years of experience dealing with wildfires for helping its team respond quickly as conditions changed.<\/p>\n

“Since our program began, we’ve learned from every fire, and that preparation is exactly what allowed us to act quickly and get these birds to safety,” Sorenson said.<\/p>\n

Ventana Wildlife Society also thanked the U.S. Forest Service, CAL FIRE, Big Sur Fire, Rep. Jimmy Panetta’s office, California State Parks, the Oakland Zoo, Los Angeles Zoo and National Park Service for assisting with the effort.<\/p>\n

The California condor remains one of North America’s most endangered birds. Lead poisoning is among the major threats facing the species and can occur when condors ingest fragments of lead ammunition while feeding on animal carcasses.<\/p>\n

Ventana Wildlife Society plans to share video and more details about the release during its next “Condor Chat” on Aug. 27 at 4 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2 California condors released in Big Sur as Timber Fire threatened sanctuary Two California condors are back in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":999380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[27],"tags":[74312,25236,7292,51713,74305,286743,6808,74303,175340,74311,50534,159,400239,398196,11006,67,132,68,400238,837,1628],"class_list":["post-999379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-big-sur","tag-bird","tag-cal-fire","tag-california-condor","tag-condor","tag-condors","tag-facility","tag-lead-poisoning","tag-los-angeles-zoo","tag-oakland-zoo","tag-sanctuary","tag-science","tag-sorenson","tag-timber-fire","tag-u-s-forest-service","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-ventana-wildlife-society-team","tag-wildlife","tag-year"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117091491453283376","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/999379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=999379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/999379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/999380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=999379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=999379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=999379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}