BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1956
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Date of Hearing: March 23, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS AND WILDLIFE
Jared William Huffman, Chair
AB 1956 (Monning) - As Amended: March 16, 2010
SUBJECT : California Condors: Feeding
SUMMARY : Authorizes the Department of Fish and Game (DFG), as
part of a condor preservation program, to provide food for
free-ranging condors under certain conditions. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Authorizes DFG to provide for feeding of birds, mammals or
fish when natural foods are not available or if feeding aids
in the recovery of threatened or endangered species.
2)Authorizes DFG, pursuant to a memorandum of understanding
(MOU) with participants in a condor preservation program, to
allow for feeding of free-ranging California condors.
3)Requires the MOU to be consistent with the following
guidelines:
a) The MOU may authorize the following types of animals
to be used to feed free-ranging condors: livestock
animals euthanized by shooting with nonlead ammunition or
which die from natural causes, wildlife killed by
traffic, and animals that die from natural causes on
private property if transported to the feeding site by
the landowner.
b) Requires a feeding site for condors to be located a
safe distance from nearby hazards including turbines or
overhead wires, on properties of 100 acres or more with a
setback of one half mile from the property line, on a
hill or knoll that is predominately covered by grass and
not under a tree canopy or within 100 feet of water, and
within or adjacent to the current condor range or within
an area subject to a condor reintroduction effort.
4)Authorizes DFG to work with the State Veterinarian in
preparing an MOU, and requires any MOU in effect on January 1,
2011 that is inconsistent with the guidelines of this bill to
be revised to conform to those guidelines.
5)Requires DFG in preparing the MOU to work with federal
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agencies that work to preserve the California condor.
6)Exempts DFG, when providing food for free-ranging condors
pursuant to this bill, from provisions of existing law
otherwise prohibiting the transport of dead animals.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Prohibits the transport of a dead animal to any place, other
than to a licensed rendering plant, licensed collection
center, animal disease diagnostic laboratory, crematory, or
approved destination in another state, unless a waiver is
granted by the State Veterinarian for certain specified
purposes such as an emergency.
2)Authorizes DFG to provide for the feeding of game birds,
mammals or fish when natural foods are not available and to
provide suitable areas for such feeding.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : This bill establishes guidelines for DFG to enter
into an MOU to provide feeding stations for reintroduced
free-ranging California condors as part of California's condor
recovery program. The guidelines specify the food sources that
are acceptable and criteria for feeding locations to address
health and safety issues.
The California condor is North America's largest terrestrial
bird, with a wingspan of nine and a half feet. The condor dates
back to before the Pleistocene era and has inhabited this
continent for at least 50,000 years. Condors are scavengers and
feed primarily on dead carrion, which has been a source of
ingested lead ammunition fragments. Although condors once
ranged over much of North America, by the 1940s their range had
been reduced to the coastal mountains of southern California.
Condors were listed as endangered in California in 1967. The
condor reached near extinction in the early 1980s, with less
than 30 individual birds left alive in the wild. Key factors
determined by biologists as contributing to the decline of the
condor include lead poisoning and illegal shooting, in addition
to habitat loss and other factors. Scientists determined that
the only hope for the condor's survival was to institute a
captive breeding program. The last wild birds were captured in
1987, and an intensive captive breeding program was instituted.
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Biologists began reintroducing condors back into the wild in
1992. Today they are being reintroduced into the mountains of
southern California north of the Los Angeles basin, in the Big
Sur vicinity of the central California coast, at Pinnacles
National Monument, and near the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Just
this year, the first condor nest in California's Pinnacles
National Monument in 100 years was found with a single egg.
Condors typically do not begin breeding until they are 7 years
old and normally mate for life.
The Ventana Wildlife Society, one of the principal managers of
the California condor recovery program, notes that feeding of
free-flying condors is essential at this time as part of the
reintroduction effort because young birds are often na?ve and do
not know where to find food on their own. On-going feeding for
all wild condors also remains critically important to reduce the
threat of lead poisoning from spent ammunition. Although
California law now requires that nonlead ammunition be used in
the condor range it may be years before compliance levels are
such that supplemental feeding will become unnecessary. Many
agencies, including state, federal and non-governmental agencies
are working together to recover the condor to the wild. Today
there are only 87 free-flying condors in the wild in California,
and only 350 total condors alive including those in captivity.
While the captive breeding program has met with tenuous success,
the condor's recovery still hangs in the balance.
Opponents object to expansion of the existing authorization for
DFG to feed game species to also include non-game species, and
to authorizing use of the FGPF for these purposes.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Audubon California
Defenders of Wildlife
Ventana Wildlife Society
Opposition
California Association of Firearms Retailers
California Sportsman's Lobby
National Shooting Sports Foundation
Outdoor Sportsmen's Coalition of California
Safari Club International
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Analysis Prepared by : Diane Colborn / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096