Snail extinction prevention program

File:Achatinella fuscobasis 63974826.jpg

The snail extinction prevention program (SEPP) or Hawai’i snail extinction program, is a partnership between US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources-Division of Forestry and Wildlife and the University of Hawaii founded in 2012 and currently directed by David R. SischoFor staff list see https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/ecosystems/sepp/.{{Cite web |title=David Sischo |url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David-Sischo |website=researchgate.net}}{{Cite web |last=Tani |first=Carlyn L. |date=2017-07-12 |title=A Snail’s Tale: Can Rare Hawaiian Land Snails Be Saved From Extinction? |url=https://www.honolulumagazine.com/a-snails-tale-can-rare-hawaiian-land-snails-be-saved-from-extinction/ |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=Honolulu Magazine |language=en-US}} that is trying to prevent the extinction of Hawaii’s many rare snails such as Achatinella and snails of the family Amastridae.{{Cite book |last=Dooren |first=Thom van |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_World_in_a_Shell/iAGoEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=snail+extinction+prevention+program&pg=PA271&printsec=frontcover |title=A World In A shell snail stories for a time of extinctions |publisher=MIT press |year=2022 |isbn=9780262547345}}{{cite web |title=Snail Extinction Prevention Program |url=https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/ecosystems/sepp/ |website=dlnr.hawaii.gov |language=en}} (official web page for Snail Extinction Prevention Program) {{Cite web |title=Achatinella Swainson, 1828 |url=https://www.gbif.org/species/7409048 |access-date=2024-12-13 |website=www.gbif.org |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Biodiversity and Extinction of Hawaiian land snails:how many are left now and what we must do to save them |url=https://academic.oup.com/icb/article/58/6/1157/5032875 |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=academic.oup.com |doi=10.1093/icb/icy043}}{{Cite book |url=https://openlibrary.org/books/OL38059012M/Kin |title=Kin: thinking with Deborah Bird Rose |date=2022 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-1-4780-2266-4 |editor-last=Van Dooren |editor-first=Thom |location=Durham |editor-last2=Chrulew |editor-first2=Matthew}}{{Cite book |title=Animal remains |date=2022 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-50648-8 |editor-last=Bezan |editor-first=Sarah |series=Perspectives on the non-human in literature and culture |location=London New York |editor-last2=McKay |editor-first2=Robert}}{{Cite web |year=2024 |title=Meet Hawaii's 'jewels of the forest'-some of the rarest animals on earth |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/10/21/nx-s1-4906557/hawaii-tree-snail-endangered-species-biodiversity |website=npr.org}}{{Cite book |last=Markovics |first=Joyce L. |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Yellow_Tipped_Oahu_Tree_Snail/I9_rzgEACAAJ?hl=en |title=Yellow-tipped Oahu tree snail |date=2023 |publisher=Cherry Lake Publishing |isbn=978-1-6689-0972-0 |series=Endlings. The last species |location=Ann Arbor, Michigan}}

File:Partulina mighelsiana Hawaiian Tree Snail David R. Sischo.jpg, photograph by David Sischo founder and current director of the SEPP]]

Actions taken

= Snail enclosures =

File:Euglandina rosea.jpg), one of the main causes of Hawaiian snail extinction]]

One of the ways the SEPP tries to save those rare snails is by keeping them in an fenced and constantly monitored enclosure in the Hawaiian forest that keeps them away from invasive snails, such as the Rosy WolfsnailRosy Wolfsnails are the main threat to native snails and other introduced predators, such as the Jackson's chameleon, the land flatworm Platydemus manokwari, and black rats.

== Enclosure walls ==

File:Platydemus manokwari.jpg, a predatory flatworm that poses a threat to Hawaiian snails]]

The walls of the SEPP snail enclosures includes a smooth lined wall to prevent chameleons, a steel fence, protected with a rim to ensure wolfsnails do not climb over the fence. Behind the steel fence, there are electric wires to prevent any wolfsnails that do get in from swallowing the native snails whole.

= Lab snails =

File:Jackson's Chameleon 2 edit1.jpg, one of the invasive species that eat Hawaiian tree snails]]

The SEPP also keeps snails in a laboratory in, Kawainui Marsh, Oahu, Hawaii.

= Evacuation =

In 2018 Hurricane Lane approached the lab and the snails that lived in the lab had to be evacuated. There are ongoing concerns about future evacuation problems since as of 2022 there are over five thousand snails living in the lab, while there were fewer snails living in the lab in 2018. {{Cite web |title=“Operation Snail Bail” Protects Tiny Native Creatures {{!}} Maui Now |url=https://mauinow.com/2018/08/24/operation-snail-bail-protects-tiny-native-creatures/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |website={{!}} “Operation Snail Bail” Protects Tiny Native Creatures}}{{Cite web |title=06/22/23 – RARE HAWAIIAN LAND SNAILS REACH TOP SPEED OF 50 MILES PER HOUR |url=https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/blog/2023/06/22/nr23-108/ |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=dlnr.hawaii.gov |language=en}}In 2020, when Hurricane Douglas approached the area the snails also had to be evacuated.

= ''Achatinella pupukanioe'' =

File:Black Rat (Rattus rattus) under the Tree House (15858296885).jpg, one of the invasive species that eat native snails.]]

In 2015, the SEPP team found a tree full of Achatinella pupukanioe,[https://www.flickr.com/photos/53193377@N02/12584468003/in/album-72157641103819423 Image of live Achatinella pupukanioe, Flickr.com] a species thought to be extinct since the 1980s. The SEPP decided to leave them alone, but later when they went to collect the snails for the lab they were gone, possibly swallowed whole by rosy wolfsnails.{{Cite web |title=pupu kani oe (Achatinella pupukanioe) |url=https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/93112-Achatinella-pupukanioe |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=iNaturalist |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=NatureServe Explorer 2.0 |url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.113142/Achatinella_pupukanioe |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=explorer.natureserve.org}}

Notes

References

External links

Category:Environmental issues in Hawaii