Saint Louis Zoo trumpeter swans start on journey to the wild

Wish our favorite swan siblings well on their journey to the wild! 🦢🦢

Two trumpeter swans who hatched at the Zoo in May 2023 made a recent cross-country journey for an important conservation mission. They are set to be released to a wildlife area in eastern Oregon in June as part of a newly formed flock of trumpeter swans from nine zoos across the country.

The wild trumpeter swan population has rapidly dwindled in Oregon to just six breeding pairs in 2023. Conservationists hope the release of zoo-hatched swans will help grow a self-sustaining, wild population in the state. The project aims to avoid local extinction of the beautiful species named for its trumpet-like honks.

The Saint Louis Zoo swans recently traveled by plane and arrived in Zoo Idaho in Pocatello. They are now bonding there with their new flock and getting used to living with limited human interaction before the release.

Trumpeter swans are a conservation success story. The species was on the brink of extinction in the early 1900s, but an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 live in North America today.

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