The St. Louis Zoo has been working on breeding Hellbenders for several years now with the first successful breeding in 2011. Since then the zoo has been enjoying much success breeding these unique amphibians. Our state is the only state to have both Hellbender subspecies. The animals reproducing at the zoo are from three different rivers in Missouri so their offspring can eventually be released into their specific water systems. For more information on the zoo's breeding efforts click on this link. http://www.stlzoo.org/conservation/wildcare-institute/hellbendersinmissouri/
Our zoo is not the only institution working on Hellbender conservation. Since 2013 officials from Indiana's Columbian Park Zoo (located in Lafayette) along with scientists from Purdue University have been working on breeding Hellbenders in hopes of releasing them back into the Blue River. This river is the only place Hellbenders occur in Indiana. After successfully breeding about 200 of these giant salamanders the next step is to make this waterway habitable once again. For more reading on the project follow this link. http://wbaa.org/post/purdue-hellbender-researchers-focusing-endangered-salamanders-habitat
The Hellbender is very specific in its environmental needs. As is the same old story, they have declined drastically throughout their range because we humans have altered their rivers to the point where they are no longer suitable habitat. It is heartening to see efforts from these two zoos to try and restore the rivers and reintroduce these amazing creatures so we may see healthy populations thriving once again. If they succeed, they will not only save this species... it will benefit us all.
