The 11 point river in
Randolph County. Considered
by many to be the most
pristine in the Ozarks.
A place of beauty, a place
of peace. A place home
we're catching fewer and fewer animals,
but more importantly, we're not
catching baby animals anymore.
Filling it to a big problem.
Jeff Rigler is a herpetologist with the
Missouri Department of Conservation.
The numbers are dropping.
We're not seeing recruitment behind them, so
that tells us there's a problem with these
animals and we have to reverse this.
And if you're lucky,
just below the surface,
you'll see what Bregler
is talking about there.
Slimy, slippery, live
under the rocks and look like
prehistoric creatures. They're
also in danger of becoming extinct.
Once these older, bigger animals
that we've caught die off, there is
nothing behind them to replace him.
Rigler is here because our state in his
are trying to save the Ozark hellbender.
You can't find them anywhere
else in the world. Except here and the
Ozarks of southern Missouri. That's why
Arkansas Game and Fish herpetologist
Kelly Irwin is partnering with Rigler
and Trisha Crabill with EU S Fish
and Wildlife Service in Missouri
to bring back this giant aquatic
salamander from the edge of extinction
in one of our Ozark Hellbender rivers,
we haven't been able to find a hellbender,
probably in the last 2025 years.
With less than 1000 worldwide,
we cut back a good 25 to 30
feet from where it used to be.
When I first started coming down here,
flooding and erosion kill more of their
habitat every year, but there is hope.
At the Saint Louis Zoo.
Because the numbers are declining
dramatically in the population.
We feel like we have to breed this
animal and captive propagated,
so we've been working with the
Saint Louis Zoo since about 2002,
bringing animals into captivity to try
to get him to breathe naturally should
be OK. OK, they do this by recreating
the hellbenders natural habitat with two
outdoor streams 40 feet long, six feet deep.
There are also two large indoor rooms
that serve as the headquarters
for the hellbender program,
and just about two weeks ago.
The zoo announced 8 Ozark
Hellbenders laid about 2800 eggs.
There are now more than 200
larvae marking only the second
time the endangered hellbenders
have bred in captivity.
Nesting in these artificial boxes.
Wriggler and a colleague
developed a few years ago.
There's only so many places these
animals are going to reproduce and
they feel safe to use these boxes
outside the zoo.
They sink the boxes into rivers,
packing rocks around them.
Rigler and his colleague put
out the first seven boxes
in Missouri in June 2010.
Five months later,
as he was about to open the lid,
I could feel something with different here,
'cause I've been working with this animal
so many years and I said I've got to
get my camera and I took the camera,
set it there and he opened that box
and they were like golden Nuggets.
Big yellow yolk sacs and they were
out the Hatch in a week and they
all flickered in their yolk SAC.
That's when Brickler says they
started building more nesting boxes.
We came out to the rivers.
We collected animals from the wild,
including six from the 11 point in Arkansas.
We put him in an artificial Raceway
with the nest boxes and to our
surprise last year we pulled off one
of the lids and had a cluster full
of eggs and we've been working so
hard to get to that point since 2002.
And me, it was just like a golden moment
for us all because we're like we've got
to be able to do this to save this animal.
Then a second golden moment.
Just a few weeks ago at the zoo
and another surprise last month
on the 11 point river in Arkansas,
here's Irwin posing with about 500 eggs.
Back at the zoo, Brickler says
in four to six years when these
hellbenders are big enough,
they'll be released back into the river
five years ago.
If someone asked me if we could save
this animal from going extinct,
I would have probably told you no.
And today I am so much more hopeful.
I mean, we have a lot of problems
to deal with from habitat changes,
but we are buying time for this animal.
I think we're going to save this animal.
I really do.