Roughcut segment from the middle of the Documentary Film Shadow of the Condor

In this clip, Mike Clark, Head Condor Keeper at the LA Zoo discusses the challenge of lead toxicity for the condor. Mike has twenty years of experience in fostering the success of the condor recovery effort both in the Zoo and in the field. This segment includes follow-on discussion by Bruce Rideout, DVM, Ph.D. of the San Diego Zoo on the sources of lead toxicity in the wild condor population. Myra Finkelstein, Ph.D. of UC Santa Cruz reveals facts about her research which is focused upon identification of the isotopic signature of the lead found in the tissues of condors.

In production now, the documentary film, Shadow of the Condor, profiles an emblematic species and the people who have made it their mission to sustain the species in the wild after an eleventh-hour effort to save it from extinction. A story of human challenge set in the context of a nature documentary, the film focuses upon the people and the process of reintroducing a species bred in captivity back into the wilderness to which it belongs.

It's also a story that sheds light on what species recovery means when environmental degradation continues. We can save a species but can we make the choices necessary to enable its independent survival?