Bryan Philip Nelson
July 15, 2024Louisiana Earns National Honors & Top 10 Rankings for Capital Investment, Workforce Development & Life Sciences Growth
July 15, 2024On June 13, 2024, a team of conservationists from Audubon Zoo and the U.S. Forestry Service released six young Louisiana Pine Snakes in the Kisatchie National Forest in north-central Louisiana. Louisiana Pine Snakes are widely considered one of the rarest snakes in the country. The release is part of an ongoing conservation effort to restore wild populations of this imperiled species. These six snakes hatched at Audubon Zoo last fall as part of the Louisiana Pine Snake Recovery Program. This collaborative conservation initiative calls upon the expertise of many professionals from various agencies and institutions including the U.S. Forestry Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Memphis Zoo, Fort Worth Zoo, Ellen Trout Zoo, and Audubon Zoo.
Since 1997, Audubon Zoo has hatched a total of 120 Louisiana Pine Snakes, with 18 of them released to the wild and the others contributing to the conservation breeding program. Along with snakes that will be released by other conservation partners, the release of these six snakes makes 2024 the most successful year of the program to date.
“Collaborations like this program are vital to the successful preservation of this species. Partnering with other zoos means we can increase the numbers of these endangered snakes released, share information and learn from each other as we expand this conservation effort,” according to Dr. Steven Whitfield, Director of Terrestrial and Wetlands Conservation at Audubon Nature Institute. “This program is especially meaningful as it is fully supported by Audubon Nature Institute. When guests purchase a ticket to enjoy a day at Audubon Zoo, they are contributing to this important conservation effort.”
At Audubon Zoo, the herpetology department cares for a large breeding colony of adult Louisiana Pine Snakes, which produce offspring each year that are released in the wild. For the last 10 months, the team had been carefully raising the six juveniles in a dedicated space at the reptile house in preparation for their release. Since hatchling snakes can be vulnerable to predators, “head-starting” or rearing them for several months at the zoo guarantees that they are larger when released, which increases their chances of survival.
“It’s truly rewarding to see our herpetology team’s efforts and perseverance come to fruition and see animals hatched at our zoo released to the wild in a bid to save this irreplaceable species” said Audubon Zoo’s Curator of Herpetology, Robert Mendyk, “ “Programs like this are central to the goals and mission of accredited zoos and aquariums and illustrate the many ways in which hey contribute to a unified approach to wildlife conservation.”
Prior to their release, each snake was given a health screening and weighed, measured, and photographed to document their unique coloration and body markings for identification purposes. Each snake is also equipped with a microchip which U.S. Forestry Service biologists can use to track their movements and survivorship in the wild, and samples of their DNA in the form of shed skins are kept on hand for future genetic testing to determine the parentage of any offspring found at or around the release site.
Mallory McKinney, herpetology keeper at Audubon Zoo said the snake release is an important part of her job. “Being a part of direct conservation is important because it helps protect species and habitats that the people of Louisiana can continue to enjoy.”
Biologists from the U.S. Forestry Service led the search for appropriate microhabitats to release snakes into – spots that provide underground shelter, usually pocket gopher burrows and stump holes so the Audubon team was prepared to release the snakes in pre-selected areas.
With very few wild populations remaining, the Louisiana Pine Snake is currently listed as endangered by the IUCN and threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The species was once located throughout Louisiana and eastern Texas, but poor land management practices over the last century, including fire suppression and extensive logging of longleaf pine habitats for timber have decimated the habitat that is crucial to this species’ survival. Today, only a handful of fragmented populations persist, but ongoing efforts by the U.S. Forestry Service and other agencies and organizations are restoring longleaf pine habitats throughout the region, which will be crucial to conserving the Louisiana Pine Snake as well as many other threatened species of this unique ecosystem.
Audubon’s work with other partners makes this program rewarding for everyone. “Getting to release a threatened species back to the wild is a testament to how important AZA-accredited facilities are,” said Mitch Wehrle, Audubon’s senior herpetology keeper.