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FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - A task to boost the colonisation of blunt-nosed leopard lizards, which included putting tracker backpacks connected the lizards, has won Fresno Chaffee Zoo the North American Conservation Award.
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the non-profit tasked with the advancement of zoos and aquariums, gave Fresno Chaffee Zoo the grant astatine its yearly league successful Alberta, Canada, connected Sept. 18.
Fresno Chaffee Zoo's efforts successful the Blunt-Nosed Leopard Lizard Conservation Program was noted for helping the semipermanent endurance of the species.
"This grant recognizes, successful particular, the innovative usage of tracking exertion to show lizards post-release," wrote the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Honors and Awards Committee. "The Automated Radio Telemetry System covering the full 894-hectare tract tract was the largest successful the satellite astatine the clip of installation."
The task to assistance conserve the blunt-nosed leopard lizard began successful 2020 erstwhile Fresno Chaffee Zoo joined the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Fresno State to cod the remaining fewer blunt-nosed leopard lizards.
"Within conscionable 4 years, we've learned to support and breed blunt-nosed leopard lizards, an endangered and declining taxon lone recovered successful California, and person begun releasing animals backmost to the wild," said Rory Telemeco, Director of Conservation Science astatine Fresno Chaffee Zoo.
So far, the Blunt-Nosed Leopard Lizard Conservation Program has hatched 155 lizards and released 47 of them into the wild.
