Columbia Montour Quarterly Vol. 2: October-December 2021

Photos, Video & Article by John Zaktansky, Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association stern Hellbender

While all of this helps camouflage the hellbender in its natural habitat along rocky waterway floors, the features don’t help its less-than-photogenic appearance. In a highly visual society where cute photos and videos on TV and the internet spark donations for panda or koala rescue efforts overseas – or more locally to those helping abused and abandoned kittens and puppies – the hellbender’s situation goes mostly unnoticed. Fortunately, Petokas and his team of volunteers are working to reverse the species’ downward spiral. “I think they deserve – and have the right – to continue to exist,” he said recently as 124 juvenile hellbenders – raised in conjunction with the Bronx Zoo and a small lab in lower New York state – were released into a nearby stream that had been cultivated into the perfect hellbender habitat. On behalf of the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association, I was honored to be invited to participate in the process. The lab – located adjacent to a former golf course that has been recycled into a natural wetland oasis – featured rows of well-maintained tanks fitted with PVC pipe structures and stones that provided shelter that would mimic manmade hellbender huts and more natural features that the juvenile hellbenders

endangered designation from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

would inhabit once released.

As the hellbenders were processed for transport –each catalogued in a detailed log based on an RFID PIT tag that will help the teammonitor survival and living patterns – I helped weigh each one by carefully placing it in a small bucket on a scale. Being able to handle such unique creatures was incredible – I immediately realized that these juvenile hellbenders were equal parts feisty and fragile. It was obvious how well-raised they were – showing considerable growth since their last weigh-ins, and they were really active. Smooth, somewhat slimy and strikingly delicate, it was impossible not to connect with their plight and want to do more to raise awareness and rouse assistance for such a well-organized, scientifically focused and groundbreaking pilot project that realistically could help reintroduce the species to other sections of the Susquehanna watershed if the right resources become available. Along those lines, the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association continues its efforts – in conjunction with the Center for Biological Diversity, Waterkeeper Alliance, Waterkeepers Chesapeake and Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association – to push for enhanced protections for the Eastern hellbender via a threatened or

We also will continue to help amplify educational efforts about the species via Petokas, his team and others who share a passion for the hellbender. He can be contacted via email at petokas@lycoming.edu. You can follow along with all our hellbender-related stories, programs and efforts to fight for protections via a newly created hellbender page on our website: www.middlesusquehannariverkeeper. org/hellbenders1.html. Note: This is the second in a two-part package covering a recent hellbender release as part of a reintroduction pilot program. The first element, a feature story and photo gallery, can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/2YhwpdC.​

HELLBENDER REINTRODUCTION VIDEO

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