Snails on ‘edge of extinction’ released into wild after breeding success

The snails can only be found on Islands in Madeira. Picture: Chester Zoo/PA

A snail may have been saved from the “edge of extinction” after more than 1,300 born in a world-first breeding programme were released into the wild.

The pea-sized Desertas Island land snail was once believed to have gone extinct after no sightings were recorded for more than a century, but conservationists from the UK and Madeira now hope to repopulate their North Atlantic home.