A technical glitch has been blamed by conservationists in New Zealand for the accidental freezing to death of 800 endangered giant land snails.
Rescued from a location designated for coal mining, the rare snails were housed in a temperature-regulated room overseen by the Department of Conservation (DoC).
Unfortunately, a malfunctioning gauge caused temperatures to drop below freezing.
According to reports, staff at the DoC’s West Coast Conservancy in Hokitika were “very upset.”
The Powelliphanta giant land snails were part of a group of 6,000 collected from the Stockton Plateau on New Zealand’s South Island several years ago to facilitate coal mining operations.
Approximately 4,000 of those snails have been successfully relocated to new habitats.
John Lyall, serving as the conservancy’s technical support manager, noted that a temperature probe in one of the three containers had malfunctioned, resulting in a colder environment than the snails could endure.
He remarked that the incident was “very upsetting” for the staff dedicated to caring for the snails.
“We arranged for the probe to be replaced immediately after we detected the issue,” Mr. Lyall shared with local media.
“Additionally, we’ve implemented a more regular schedule of monitoring checks and are planning to install an alert system.”
Mr. Lyall also mentioned that 360 eggs have hatched in the last year, expressing confidence in the recovery of the breeding program.
Nevertheless, some environmentalists asserted that this incident highlights the consequences of permitting development to force wildlife out of their natural surroundings.
“First, their natural habitat was destroyed for a coal mine on the Stockton Plateau, and now they’ve perished in captivity,” commented Nicola Vallance from New Zealand’s Forest and Bird organization.
“This tragedy was completely preventable.”
