Overview
- Chester Zoo announced the comeback on Feb. 7, timed with Reverse the Red Day, citing verified establishment of six colonies across Bermuda.
- The rescue scaled from fewer than 200 founders to releases exceeding 100,000 since 2019, with Chester Zoo caring for about 60,000 at peak and using specialized release pods.
- The effort was led by Chester Zoo with Bermuda’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Biolinx Environmental Research, and support from London Zoo.
- Conservationists attribute past declines to habitat loss, pesticide use, and invasive predators such as wolf snails and flatworms, and they warn long-term security requires habitat recovery and predator control.
- With the greater Bermuda snail stabilized, teams are shifting resources to the lesser Bermuda land snail, which is harder to breed and may already be extinct in the wild.