8,000 Critically Endangered Hawaiian Snails Relocated From Kailua to Pearl City in Hawaii

Using 170 boxes and 10 vehicles, wildlife authorities in Hawaii relocated 8000 critically endangered Hawaiian snails from the rehabilitation facility in Kailua to the wildlife's new home in Pearl City.

The Great Snail Bail in Hawaii

Officials from the State Department of Land and Natural Resources have successfully relocated endangered Hawaiian snails in what has become known as "The Great Snail Bail."

On Thursday morning, over 8,000 snails were transported from Kailua to their new location in Pearl City.

The number of protected species transferred at once, according to the caretakers of the snails who drove ten separate trucks to complete the transfer.

The last individuals of several of these species in the whole globe were being transported across the H-3, according to Dr. David Sischo, who has been in charge of the state's Snail Extinction Prevention Program for several years. Despite their size, these snails are just as significant as large, charismatic, and endangered animals like monk seals.

Conservation Efforts

From a tiny trailer, Sischo and his group have taken care of almost 8,000 snails representing 38 severely endangered species over the past seven years.

According to Sischo, although this was perhaps the biggest and quickest snail migration ever, they are priceless public trust resources. They are the crown jewels of the Hawaiian forest and act as canaries in the mine, notifying humanity when the native woods are in danger. It would be more accurate to say that they act like the forest's snails.

According to the DLNR, the team was aware that packing rare species onto one van at once constituted genuine weaknesses, but the appropriate procedures were taken to guarantee the snails' efficient and safe transportation. In case there were any issues, DOCARE officials accompanied them.

The 170 cartons of rare snails that are now in the lab in Pearl City will get used to their new environment.

The group who did the transport claims they are thinking about entering their achievement in the Guinness Book of World Records, Hawaii News Now reports.

The snails had previously been treated in a facility outside Kailua before being transported. Eight climate-controlled compartments the size of refrigerators were utilized inside by the scientists as a lab. More than 150 terrariums packed with freshly cut leaves are visible behind glass doors, where the snails were meticulously reared and bred, according to The National Wildlife Federation.

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Critically Endangered Hawaiian Snails

41 species of severely endangered or extinct Hawaiian tree snails were previously exclusive to the Hawaiian islands, although only 38 species are in the conservation program. In the past, woods at elevations more than 500 meters were home to these snails that live in trees. They were nocturnal and consumed fungus that develops on some native Hawaiian plant leaves.

This group of snails, which average 1.9 cm in length, includes a variety of species with different hues, forms, and patterns. The population of Achatinella snails is easily endangered because of their slow development and low reproductive rate, unlike other snails, they deliver one live young at a time rather than producing eggs.

The invasive pink wolfsnail threatened to wipe out the Hawaiian tree snails. It originated in Central America and was brought there to manage the gigantic African land snail, but it unintentionally caused the extinction of several Achatinella species. The fragility of the snails resulted from island speciation and sluggish reproduction, according to Extinction.