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The rare 50-day-old condor chick at Pinnacles National Monument last week was found to have "extremely high levels of lead in its blood," the National Park Service is reported today. Fatal lead poisoning is one of the factors that brought the California Condor's status as an endangered animal in 1967. The father's blood was also tested positive for toxic levels of lead and "was immediately taken to the Los Angeles Zoo for chelation (a treatment to remove lead from the body)." Treatments for the chick were conduced on on-site but its health has degraded, prompting biologists to evacuate it for intensive care. The chick was the first to be born at Pinnacles National Monument in 100 years.
Tests on the mother have not been conducted yet.
