Condors

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is calling on the minor league Bakersfield Condors to stop displaying live condors at its hockey games.

The animal welfare group issued a statement Tuesday in response to a game last week in which an Andean condor escaped from a handler and slid on the ice as the national anthem played.

The rare bird of prey — with a wingspan of several feet — is the mascot for the Bakersfield Condors.

ZION NATIONAL PARK -- Biologists for The Peregrine Fund say they found a condor dead near a popular landmark at Zion National Park.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Efforts to reintroduce the endangered California condor into the wild continue to be hampered by lead poisonings, predation and shootings.

Field biologist Joe Burnett was standing at the base of a tree in Big Sur when the giant, limp body of a California condor landed at his feet.

Even before his team learned the official cause of death, they knew it was lead poisoning from the telltale signs they’d seen earlier in the bird, such as weight loss and erratic behavior.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Environmental groups in Arizona are proposing a lawsuit against federal officials, saying they need to ban lead bullets that are killing California condors.

PAGE, Ariz. -- Three California condors are scheduled to be released to the wild in northern Arizona's Vermilion Cliffs National Monument next month.

TUSAYAN, Ariz. -- The sarus crane gracefully walks onto the stage with its long legs that trail in flight. The African great white pelican waddles to eat fish from a mock river. A brown-necked raven snatches a dollar bill from a woman in the audience and stuffs it in a donation box.