Two men have been charged with trying to shoot a Californian condor,
one of only 64 that survive. The condor, known as Xewe, was raised in captivity
and released to the wild in January 1992 as part of a $15 million effort
to save the species from extinction.
An employee of the US Fish and Wildlife Service was monitoring the bird
in California’s Los Padres National Forest when he heard shots and accosted
two men who had fired at Xewe with a .22 calibre rifle as she perched high
on a cliff. She was unharmed. The men face a $50 000 fine and up to a year
in prison.
