St. Louis Zoo marks the milestone of releasing 10,000 hellbenders back into the wild

Missouri conservationists have reached an important milestone in their effort to save hellbender salamanders.

In August, the number released into the wild topped 10,000, following two decades of work to collect salamanders and restore their populations.

The salamanders, also known as “snot otters,” are an endangered species and some of the largest of their kind in North America. Missouri has two subspecies, the Ozark hellbender and the eastern hellbender. The amphibians can grow up to 24 inches long and can be found under rocks and swimming through rivers in the Ozark region.

Conservationists released the first hellbenders back into the wild in 2008.

Climate change, siltation, pollution and disease are all factors in the species’ decline, said Justin Elden, the St. Louis Zoo’s herpetology curator.

“It's possible that certain populations of hellbenders have been collected for, whether it be fishing bait or pets or who knows,” Elden said. “But all these different things over the years have caused this massive decline. And that's one of the reasons why it's so important for us to be doing this work here at the zoo.”