Sad, Conservation Officers Find Timbal In Blood And Pellet In The Condor Andes Skull

Illustration of the Andes disorder bird. (Wikimedia Commons/Eric Kilby)

JAKARTA - A conducting bird that is being treated in Chile is known to have lead in the blood and a pellet embedded in its skull to a tracking device, highlighting the challenges of preserving this endangered bird.

The bird was sick and could not fly when agents from Chile's SAG agricultural and livestock agency found it in late May and took it to a national zoo for treatment.

That's when veterinarians found trackers and detected high lead levels in their blood, underscoring the impact of human intervention and the need for international cooperation to preserve the Andean conductors.

"The vendor moves between Chile and Argentina, he knows no geographical or political boundaries," Guillermo Cubillos, head of investigations and conservation for Chile's National Zoo.

He further said, international conservation and tracking efforts are needed.

"We cannot formulate a Chilean corridor conservation plan with monitoring, we must involve investigators, or the government, from Argentina," he explained.

Cubillos said a large bird that can have a wingspan of more than 10 feet (three meters), has become extinct in Venezuela and is nearing extinction in Colombia. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are only about 6,700 wild Kondor birds.

During a Reuters visit to one of Chile's largest landfills in Tiltil, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Santiago, dozens of culverts were seen eating garbage.

Veterinarians say high lead levels in chondor birds show it eats something contaminated or eats prey with high lead levels.

"We have to control areas where wildlife and human activity collide, such as landfill," said Mauricio Fabry, head of the Santiago neighborhood department.

"So that this species, which is important to the ecosystem, which turns death into life, remains in our landscape," he added.