The Missouri Department of Conservation has announced that the first zoo-raised hellbender has successfully reproduced in the wild. This significant milestone in population recovery efforts of the endangered Ozark hellbender marks a turning point for the salamander species.
Since 2008, the St. Louis Zoo has been raising endangered Ozark and eastern hellbenders and releasing them back into Missouri rivers, according to a press release. To date, the Zoo has raised 9,034 Ozark hellbenders and 1,172 Eastern hellbenders for a total of 10,206. Since then, the St. Louis Zoo and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have been helping the population grow and even celebrated the release of the 10,000th salamander back in August 2022.
“This is the largest number of animals the Saint Louis Zoo has ever raised in human care and released to the wild and is one of the largest amphibian reintroduction programs in the world,” said Justin Elden, curator of herpetology, Saint Louis Zoo, and director of the Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Institute Ron and Karen Goellner Center for Hellbender Conservation.
More than 1,000 Ozarks were hatched at the Zoo in 2021.
The Missouri Ozark River is especially crucial to the survival of the animals.
“This particular river means a lot to those of us involved in the conservation of this species, as it’s the same river where the first release occurred in 2008,” said Justin Briggler, Ph.D., MDC State herpetologist.
