Endangered condors to be released in northern Arizona

VERMILION CLIFFS, Ariz. – Arizona’s Game and Fish Department is inviting the public to witness the release of endangered California Condors at Vermilion Cliffs National Monument next month.

The state agency says the release of several young captive-bred condors is planned for 11 a.m. on Sept. 22.

The Peregrine Fund will oversee the release atop the dramatic red cliffs in northern Arizona near the state’s border with southern Utah.

The California Condor population dwindled to just 22 in the 1980s, when an effort was launched to save the species from extinction. As of July 25, there were nearly 500 California Condors in the wild, including about 85 in the rugged canyon country of northern Arizona and southern Utah.

The release coincides with National Public Lands Day.