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For the first time, San Francisco garter snakes, raised through a collaborative head-starting conservation program, have been released into the wild, marking a major milestone in a decades-long effort to bring one of the region’s most endangered – and most beautiful – reptiles back from the brink of extinction. The vibrantly colorful San Francisco garter snake is found only in San Mateo County and a small portion of Santa Cruz County, and nowhere else on earth.   This week, we joined our conservation partners — Midpeninsula Regional Open Space, U.S. Geological Survey, National Park Service/Golden Gate National Recreation Area, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and San Francisco Recreation and Park Department — to announce the successful rearing and release of 62 young San Francisco garter snakes into multiple sites in San Mateo County.   All 62 snakes were born to wild, gravid females collected last year and were hand-reared at the Zoo until they were big enough to better withstand the challenges of life in the wild. This head-starting approach gives the young snakes a higher likelihood of surviving post-release, helping to support the recover of populations where numbers and genetic diversity have declined.   Together, the partners combined scientific research, habitat protection and restoration and hands-on animal care to help secure a future for this remarkable species.  The species was among the first protected by the federal Endangered Species Act and also appeared on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s first endangered species list in 1967. Nearly 60 years later, only a couple thousand individuals are estimated to remain in the wild. . This project represents the first successful head-starting program for San Francisco garter snakes. To celebrate the successful releases that took place this fall, partner biologists and representatives gathered at the Zoo to see the next generation of head-started snakes: 130 were born at the Zoo this past July and will be released into the wild in 2027. The long term goal of the program is to build healthy, genetically diverse, resilient populations so that ultimately, the species can recover to the point where it can be removed from the endangered species list