The California condor recovery program is one of conservation history most dramatic success stories. From 27 birds in 1987 to over 500 today, the program continues to face welfare and conservation challenges.
The condor recovery program involves intensive welfare management that would be impractical or impossible for most species. Captive condors must be raised with minimal human imprinting to ensure they can function as wild birds, which requires elaborate puppet-rearing techniques and restricted human contact. The welfare challenges are ongoing: wild condors still regularly require capture for lead chelation therapy to remove lead poisoning accumulated from eating carcasses. The lead poisoning issue causes genuine suffering and represents an ongoing welfare cost of reintroduction into an environment where hunters using lead ammunition create a persistent threat. The program demonstrates both what is achievable with intensive effort and the welfare cost of doing less than everything necessary.