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Zoo staff rescue near-extinct snails from remote rock

Chester Zoo Bugio Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Large rock cliff are seen in dark blue sea with a larger green part of the island in the foregroundChester Zoo
Bugio Island in the Atlantic, to which the snails have been returned after a breeding programme

Zoo conservationists have bred 300 near-extinct tiny snails and introduced them back into the wild.

Just 21 Madeiran lands snails were found clinging to a rock on Portugal's Bugio Island. They were believed to be the last of their kind.

Experts at Chester Zoo said they had to brave treacherous conditions and climb cliffs to return them to their natural home, which is part of the Madeira archipelago in the Atlantic ocean.

The Madeira government had asked the Chester Zoo experts to help with the snail conservation.

The conservationists had scramble from the water up a cliff face in the dark to find cracks in the rocks where the snails could be safely left.

Tamas Papp, assistant team manager for invertebrates at Chester Zoo, said: "We knew we had one shot to save them.

"If we missed this chance, that was it: they were gone."

Chester Zoo Tiny snails on a pilot with some glistening a purple colour on their shellsChester Zoo
The snails were born in a breeding programme at Chester Zoo

Papp added: "It might be the trickiest reintroduction we've ever done.

"We had a short window due to rough weather, and there's no jetty on the island.

"We had to jump straight into the water, climb out, put helmets and harnesses on, and start scrambling up the cliff face."

Chester Zoo A male conservationist, wearing a coat and a red spectrum head torch, reaches into a container to release some of the snails in the darkChester Zoo
Chester Zoo said conservationists had to battle rough seas and scramble up a cliff face

The snails, which measure no bigger than a third of an inch or 8mm in size, are important as they eat vegetation and enrich the soil.

They will be monitored as they settle back into the wild.

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