$1Million Home Is For the Birds

Condors at San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park get a new breeding facility one year to the day after their last home burned in a wildfire.

Despite the credit crunch and housing market collapse, a few individuals got a spacious new $1 million home after losing their former abode to wildfire last year. Five condors, two Andean and three Californian, have been in temporary housing since their breeding facility was destroyed by the Witch fire exactly one year ago to the day, according to the LA Times.

If you’re wondering what $1 million gets you at San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, click here to see some pictures. But the new home is much more than a few wooden perches and wire fencing. It is also a breeding facility. San Diego Zoo is one of the key players in the conservation of the critically endangered Californian condor. Although the birds have seen their numbers bounce back from the brink of extinction, it is a restrained bounce. There are approximately 300 individuals, about half of which are in the wild.

And in case one piece of good news for condors isn’t enough, well that’s OK, I have one more. There is a condor release scheduled for November 1 at Pinnacles National Monument, just east of the Salinas Valley in California. Two birds will have a soft release, meaning that they don’t have to leave their pen if they don’t feel like it. But if you’re interested in the comeback of these majestic vultures, you should head to Pinnacles on November 1, if you feel like it.