LUFKIN, Texas (KTRE) - The Louisiana Pine Snake is one of the rarest snakes in North America. It’s estimated that there are less than a thousand of these snakes in the wild and captivity combined.

When conservation efforts began in the ‘90s, there were less than 100 in the wild. Now, the Ellen Trout Zoo has over 140 in captivity for their breeding program and has released over 400 snakes into the wild to help keep numbers up.

“Some people may not like snakes,” Robert Jackson, Collection Manager of Reptiles at Ellen Trout Zoo said. “They say ‘Why, who cares?’ but when that animal goes away, other animals like rodents, for example, who we might like even less are going to explode.”

Surviving populations live in Northern Louisiana, and the last surviving snakes with a Texas bloodline reside at the Ellen Trout Zoo. There hasn’t been a wild sighting of the Louisiana Pine Snake in Eastern Texas, and it is thought to be extinct in the state. This may have happened for a variety of reasons.

“The long leaf pine eco-system has been decimated due to fire suppression and logging,” said Mark Sandfoss, Conservationist at the Memphis Zoo. “So, there’s not a lot of habitat left.” Along with many of the snake’s prey declining in numbers, this makes survival harder. Moreover, this particular snake lays only around six to eight eggs in a clutch, while other species can lay up to 40.

The Memphis Zoo Conservation Team is making its annual trip this week to the Ellen Trout Zoo to help with conservation efforts.

The team is collecting genetic samples from male snakes to artificially inseminate female snakes in the future and to diversify genetics between the Memphis, Fort Worth, Audubon and Ellen Trout Zoos (the four zoos that are part of the breeding program).

“Any time you’re going to invest a lot of resources and time to recover the species, which is very low in the wild, probably the rarest snake in North America, you want to make sure you’re doing a good job and maximize reproductive output,” Sandfoss said. “So, what we’re doing is bring some science into the program to improve the number of eggs and efficiency into the program we can use in the future.”

The genetic samples are kept in a canister of liquid nitrogen that freezes them indefinitely for when they are needed.

Though they are increasing, the low Louisiana Pine Snake numbers could have consequences in the native Louisiana and Texas ecosystems.

“Every animal has a role to play in the wild and has a niche,” Jackson said. “When you take away that animal, it’s like pulling a thread out of fabric. You have a void.”

The breeding and conservation efforts by the zoos are trying to fill that void. When the 2022 clutch of eggs hatch, the zoos will make their annual trip to Louisiana the following year to release the young snakes back into their natural habitat.

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