Andean Condor Integral Conservation Plan

ANDEAN CONDOR RESCUE CENTRE

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The PCCA receives, for over a decade, telephone calls from around the country giving notice of specimens that fall into the hands of unscrupulous hunters, that are injured by traps, suffered collisions with power lines, poisoned by the use of illegal toxic baits or victims of illegal trafficking.

To face this challenge, in 2002, the Andean Condor Rescue Centre (CRCA in Spanish) was established as a conservation tool making it possible to work on the rescue and rehabilitation of these birds, with the purpose to release them back into the wild or to join conservation plans of specific Ex-situ programmes for this species. To do this, collaborative agreements were established with National Parks, National Gendarmerie and all the Wildlife Departments in the country, who are responsible for providing first assistance to rescued individuals. Once they are stabilized, thanks to the support of Aerolineas Argentinas, they are sent immediately to the Rescue Centre in the Buenos Aires Eco-park to continue their process of rehabilitation. Approximately 70% of the condors that arrive at CRCA could be rehabilitated and later released into their natural habitat. Others, due to the severity of their injuries, cannot be returned to the wild, and become part of the PCCA reproductive, educational and research programmes. As a result, the PCCA was able to rescue more than 360 condors throughout the Argentine territory.