The Akron Zoo announced that hundreds of Partula snails have traveled to Tahiti to be reintroduced in the wild.
Two zoo employees went to Tahiti in mid-September to release 1,100 snails bred at the Akron Zoo in the wild, according to a news release from the zoo.
Partula snails are listed as extinct in the wild by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of threatened, endangered and extinct animals. They were declared extinct in the 1990s.
The snails play a major role in the ecological system of the French Polynesian Islands by feeding on decaying plants in the forest.
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums and other organizations brought the remaining snails to zoos across the country for breeding purposes to save the species. The program started at the Akron Zoo in 2000.
Akron's zoo has seen around 25,000 snails released in the last nine years, making it the largest reintroduction of a species extinct in the wild.
The snail introduction site in Tahiti has been cleared of all invasive species, making it safe to release the snails.
This was the first time employees from the zoo were able to travel and participate in the program.
