The Region - News from Jan. 19, 1986

A rare California condor, believed to have been the last breeding female condor in the wild, died of starvation in San Diego County. Officials from the San Diego Wild Animal Park, where the condor was brought Jan. 3 after being captured northeast of Los Angeles, said the bird could not eat because its digestive tract had been paralyzed from lead poisoning suffered as a result of swallowing shotgun pellets in the carcasses of animals it ate. A tube was surgically implanted Saturday morning from the bird’s neck to its stomach in a desperate effort to feed it, park spokesman Tom Hansom said. The bird, called AC3, had been receiving intravenous food for the past six days wjithout much success.