Nearly 300 endangered tadpoles born at Edmonton Valley Zoo released into the wild in B.C.

A northern leopard frog is seen in a file photo. (Source: Edmonton.ca)

Nearly 300 endangered tadpoles have been released into the wild thanks to a breeding program at the Edmonton Valley Zoo, the city says.

Two zookeepers travelled to a protected wetlands area outside Kimberley, B.C., in June to release 277 Rocky Mountain Northern Leopard Frog tadpoles.

The tadpoles were born at the zoo as part of a breeding program meant to prevent the local extinction of the species, which is considered at risk in Alberta.

Northern Leopard Frog populations in western Canada started to decline sharply in the 1970s, the city says, and the population in the Edmonton region was estimated to have been lost in the 1980s.

Upland habitat destruction, wetland loss, pollution, and disease caused the species to disappear from the entirety of the North Saskatchewan River basin.

The northern leopard frog program was established at the zoo in 2018 by the Northern Leopard Frog Recovery Team, which partners with the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo, the Vancouver Aquarium, and the British Columbia government.

In addition to establishing new self-sustaining frog populations in B.C., the team conducts conservation research and maintains assurance populations.

"For every person who visits the Edmonton Valley Zoo, a small portion of their admission goes to conservation. That is what helped us establish the Northern Leopard Frog Conservation Centre here in Edmonton," said Wayne Woods, the Edmonton Valley Zoo's animal care crew lead, in a news release. "Without our visitors we wouldn’t be able to do what we do."