Re-introduction of Hungarian meadow viper in Hungary

Summary

The Hungarian meadow viper (Vipera ursinii rakosiensis), restricted to two Hungarian regions, Hanság and Kiskunság, with a total wild population under 500 and Hungary's highest legal protection status since 1992, has been the subject of a captive breeding and reintroduction program run by MME BirdLife Hungary since a Conservation Centre was established in 2004 with ten founder snakes from four Kiskunság habitats, later supplemented by six more from 2007-2008 including the first Hanság representatives. Housed in outdoor terraria with artificial burrows serving as hibernacula, the captive colony produced 1,392 vipers by 2012 through consistent annual breeding, with clutches averaging 11 eggs and a recorded maximum of 27. Reintroductions began in 2010, releasing 30 vipers into reconstructed Kiskunság grassland; by 2012 a total of 142 vipers had been released across three events at that site plus 45 more at a second nearby site, using artificial burrows to ease settlement. Weekly surveys located 50 to 55 vipers across 2010 and 2011, with nine and eight individuals respectively identified through repeat sightings including gravid females and confirmed births, and VHF-tagged animals tracked for six to eight months. Major difficulties included bureaucratic delays in clearing planted forest for grassland reconstruction, developing suitably small long-lived VHF tags, and high predator densities from wild boar, fox and badger. The project rates itself Successful, citing successful captive reproduction across multiple generations, growing release numbers, and confirmed overwintering and breeding of released vipers.