Harry the Condor’s Progress
Posted at 1:31 pm May 25, 2006 by Valerie StoddardI’ve been in touch with the Phoenix Zoo about ” Harry” the condor (read Condor Rescue in the Grand Canyon), getting periodic updates. I recently received the following from Dr. Janis Joslin, their director of animal health:
I just wanted to thank you for all of the ” coverage” you have given Harry on your blog. We caught Harry (he will always be #134 to me) to get blood and get a weight on him today. He gave us a run for our money. We’ve gotten to be experienced condor catchers, but he managed to exhaust two of our best catchers today! He weight is up to 17.3 pounds (7.8 kilograms). It’s not as good of a weight gain as I had expected, as he came in at 16.3 pounds (7.39 kilograms) but it’s a start.
This bird arrived on February 17 at the Phoenix Zoo. From the day he arrived he had been so weak that he couldn’t stand and, after two surgeries, he was so weak and pale that I didn’t expect him to survive. We got his blood work back and contacted San Diego to get some blood for his blood transfusion and he received his ” elixir of life” March 2. I learned RULE 1: Don’t give up on condors because they are really tough.
While this was all going on we were experimenting with different diets and different medications to get his crop moving. We finally came up with a diet that gave him enough calories and protein to sustain him with 4 feedings a day, which meant catching him from a small 4-by 3-foot cage 4 to 5 times a day. On March 19, with fingers crossed, he had his third surgery and we removed his proventriculous tube (drum roll and fingers crossed).
We checked him daily, giving him subcutaneous fluids, antibiotics and adjusted or replaced his crop support bandage as needed. On April 1 he got his first piece of chunk meat and over the next month he got stronger and harder to grab as we started him on whole prey items. On May 5 we put him in a large outdoor cage and he has been sunning and eating his rabbits ever since.
If all of the blood work from today’s blood sample looks good he will probably go up to the Grand Canyon to get his flight muscles exercised and put on more weight. I am hoping that the hospital staff will be able to go up and see him released.
What I didn’t tell you was on March 26 we received another condor, #122, which came in with crop stasis and lead poisoning–not quite as sick as Harry. We have learned so much from Harry that we have been far more successful with #122, who is now getting to be a handful to catch and hold.
It has been exhausting work but it has been an honor to work with such wonderful animals and with such a dedicated and hard working staff both here, with your folks at the San Diego Zoo, and with the field biologists (for if it weren’t for them I don’t think these birds could have survived in the wild). I should note that I have been here since September and everything I know about condor medicine I have learned from Dr. Kathy Orr ,who has been working with the Arizona condors since their arrival almost nine years ago. She has saved a bunch of them and now she can add two more to her count.
I look forward to sending Harry back to the Grand Canyon because he is a pain to handle now! We will keep you and his fans posted.
Valerie Stoddard is the senior administrative assistant at the Wild Animal Park’s Harter Veterinary Medical Center.
Here’s Valerie’s previous blog about Harry.
Here’s information about the California Condor Recovery Program.
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May 25th, 2006 at 8:19 pm
Valerie, please convey my profound thanks to Dr. Orr, for her dedication and knowledge of these grand birds, and to Dr. Joslin, for fighting for Harry’s life. Though I may never see a condor, or a panda, or any of our endangered species in real life, I feel that I owe a huge debt to those of you who work so hard to preserve all of the creatures of our world.
If our growing knowledge of the universe has taught us anything, it should be that all life, and all creatures, are scarce and precious. Our planet is a miracle, and we can not continue to consume and destroy its resources without paying a terrible price. Humankind, in its insatiable desire to own, consume, and dominate, carries within itself the seeds of its own destruction.
But our species is also gifted with the ability to see the danger, and to respond with compassion, dedication, and love. Please continue to fight for every life. You are appreciated more than you know.
May 25th, 2006 at 10:43 pm
Thank you so much for your wonderful update on Harry and #122. I know my Dad is smiling down from heaven with me in appreciation of your plight to save these magnificent creatures from extinction.
May 26th, 2006 at 12:34 am
Many thanks for the update and thanks to everyone working to save this species. I’m wondering why lead poisoning is such a problem for these birds–what is the source of the lead?
Valerie’s response: Lead poisoning in condors doesn’t happen often, but it does happen from time to time. This could be due to the fact that their source of food is most often dead animal carcasses (condors are vultures, after all). Unfortuately, some of the carcasses that they consume are from animals that were shot with lead bullets and left behind. If they have ingested the lead in this way, over time it builds up in their bloodstream, making them very sick.
May 26th, 2006 at 4:11 am
Thank you very much Dr. Joslin for the great update on our man ” Harry” . Your job certainly sounds difficult, but please remember that you have the sincere gratitude of so many people for what you do for the Condors and all animals that you tend to. You and your co-workers are the Condors’ guardian angels – that’s a pretty special job.
So glad to hear that #122 is doing well. There’s another one of those darn numbers – #122 needs a name too – let’s call #122…” Sally” . You know, When Harry Met Sally – the movie – LOL. And if Sally is a boy, well, I” m sure he’ll survive a little identity crisis, especially after what he’s been going thru. LOL.
Does anyone know how these birds are being poisoned, and if it can be stopped?
Thanks again Dr. Joslin, and you too Valerie, for keeping us up-to-date on ” Harry” , and now ” Sally” .
Have a nice Holiday weekend!
May 26th, 2006 at 7:33 am
Hooray for Harry once more! And his buddy #122 (Henry, maybe?). Thank you for keeping us up to date on Harry’s progress, and for all your hard work, both you guys and Phoenix Zoo.
September 22nd, 2006 at 2:40 pm
Condor 134 is Alive and Well in Grand Canyon
I found ” Harry,” aka Condor 134, August 23, 2006: At remote Pt. Sublime, 15 miles west of North Rim village deep in the North Kaibab backcountry, we were gazing into the abyss, surrounded by space and light of the canyon depths when I heard an unearthly whistling sound descending from the sky. For several seconds we were puzzled: was it a plane, helicopter, the wind, an electric motor coming from the canyon’s deep silence? Then suddenly a dark form appeared 25 feet above the rim, gliding effortlessly on the 9-foot wings that produced that strange sound, cautious but curious about the humans below. It made several low-level passes directly over our astonished group, turning its head back and forth to inspect the visitors to its isolated realm, then disappeared into the vastness.