Newsletter JAVMA Monday 2012 : Page 1
Once extinct in the wild, California condors continue recovery Return to native habitat a result of species conservation programs But today, the California condor can be spotted in the skies over parts of the American Southwest and Mexico coasting along thermal updrafts thou-sands of feet above the earth searching for carrion. Innova-tive breeding and reintroduction programs have helped increase the number of California con-dors to approximately 400, with about half of them living in the wild in Arizona, Utah, Cali-fornia, and Baja California in Mexico. The largest of North Ameri-ca’s flying land birds, the Cali-fornia condor is distinctive for its pink, featherless head, most-ly black plumage, and nearly 10-foot wingspan. To fully ap-preciate the condor’s size, wild-life biologist Mike Wallace, PhD, says the bird has to be seen flying in the wild. “You’re out hiking in the high altitude, and suddenly you’re aware of a shadow going over you the size of (an) airplane,” he said. “If you’re close enough you can actually hear the wind in the condor’s primaries (the largest feathers on the edge of the wing). You look up and it takes your breath away because the bird’s so large it doesn’t look like it should be flying.” Dr. Wallace coordinates San Diego Zoo’s California condor recovery program in Baja Cali-fornia. He attributes the popula-continued on page 2 AVMA approves $1M for Healthy Pets campaign, animal welfare specialty recognition By R. Scott Nolen The AVMA Executive Board on Wednesday approved $1 mil-lion in support of a national mul-timedia campaign educating pet owners about the importance of routine veterinary care and the role of veterinary professionals in maintaining pet health. In addition, the AVMA board voted in favor of granting provi-sional recognition to the Ameri-can College of Animal Welfare as a veterinary specialty organi-zation. AVMA’s $1 million contri-bution to Partners for Healthy Pets, an initiative of the Part-nership for Preventive Pet Healthcare, will support a di-rect-to-consumer campaign en-couraging the pet-owning pub-lic to visit their veterinarians regularly. The Partnership is a coalition of some 20 organiza-tions, including the AVMA, that came together in 2011 to en-hance pet health through regular veterinary visits and increase the public’s perceived value of veterinary care. To date, 18 as-sociate members have joined the Partnership, and many more are anticipated. The AVMA Office of the Executive Vice President pro-posed the $1 million contribu-tion, which Executive Board Chair Ted Cohn said the board approved in response to Asso-ciation members. “The Member Needs Assessment we received the results of a couple of months continued on page 3 Courtesy of San Diego Zoo Global By R. Scott Nolen ate in the 20th century, the California condor was tee-tering on the edge of extinction. Less than two dozen of these New World vultures remained in the wild as of 1982, a likely result of years of egg poaching, lead poisoning from consum-ing ammunition in carrion, and habitat destruction. L The controversial decision was made to save California condors by capturing the re-maining birds and placing them at the San Diego and Los Ange-les zoos. When the last condor was captured in 1987, the world population of California con-dors consisted of 27 birds, and the species was officially de-clared extinct in the wild. NEW OM Select Blend Overweight Management Canine Formula. ™ Offering palatability, added texture and variety to help encourage compliance. Learn more at PurinaVeterinaryDiets.com Trademarks owned by Société des Produits Nestlé S.A., Vevey, Switzerland
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