Snakes, raised right in Central Florida, are being released into the wild. It’s all to help the threatened Eastern Indigo Snake re-establish itself in its natural habitat.
But don’t worry, they’re not being released here. The Central Florida Zoo’s Orianne Center plans to release nine of the snakes into a national forest in Alabama.
The indigo snake population has been on the decline for decades.
“It has been attributed mostly to habitat, habitat loss, habitat fragmentation,” said Fred Antonio, director of the Orianne Center for Indigo Conservation. “Indigo snakes have a huge home range, so they travel a lot seasonally, especially when they cross the roads. They are very vulnerable to getting run over.”
Experts say the non-venomous indigo snake is important to keep other creatures in check.
A record 67 indigos hatched last year at the center.
They’re hoping to break that record this year.
We’ll find out when the snakes hatch next month.