The implementation of the Action Plan for the European Ground Squirrel in the Czech Republic includes several types of measures aimed at preserving this species in the wild. In addition to regular monitoring and management of sites with the occurrence of ground squirrels, their populations are also supplemented with captive-bred individuals.  The Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic, in cooperation with Museum of Karlovy Vary, tries to establish new populations of ground squirrels in suitable places or adds individuals to populations where their number has decreased for some reason. 

The releases of ground squirrels traditionally take place in July, when the juveniles are already independent of their mother. This was also the case at the Strakonice airport, where a large decrease of animals has been recorded in recent years - probably due to heavy torrential rains. That was the reason why we released 34 ground squirrels from the Zoo Hluboká and Rozovy animal rescue station here this year. Ground squirrels were released individually into pre-prepared artificial burrows. After the release, the entrance to the burrow was blocked so that the animals had to stay there for some time – this way, they tend to calm down and do not run away in panic.

Another release was done in České středohoří, an area where we concentrate our efforts to create a metapopulation. Three populations at three different sites have been already established by such releases in this area. This year, 70 ground squirrels were added to the site Odolický vrch, where 40 individuals started the population in 2023. In both years, a large part of the new inhabitants arrived from foreign zoos, namely from: the Swedish Nordens Ark, the German Opel Zoo and Nuremberg Zoo, and the Swiss Bern Zoo. The rest of the ground squirrels came from Czech zoos: Zoo Hluboká and Zoo Na Hrádečku.

At this point, it is worth reminding that Nurembeg Zoo is already a traditional partner. It participated in the second official release of ground squirrels in the Czech Republic in 2017. Ground squirrels bred in Nuremberg helped save the population on the golf course in Karlovy Vary from extinction. In the following years, ground squirrels from this zoo contributed significantly to the establishing of new populations at Písečný vrch and Hlinište in České středohoří. The good cooperation with Nuremberg Zoo is also one of the main reasons why other European zoos approached us and joined our project.
The third and last release of ground squirrels this year took place in South Moravia. Since 2023, we have been trying to create a new population of ground squirrels in the vast area of the former field airport near Božice. Last year, we released almost 150 ground squirrels originally from Slovakia. This year we added 18 ground squirrels from Zoo Brno and a few days later we added 14 individuals from the nearby population at Miroslav airport. Just like at Odolický vrch, we released the animals here into temporary enclosures, where they were left until they dug their way out on their own. Of course, we fed and monitoried the ground squirrels at all locations.

We would like to thank all the partners very much, we value their breeding efforts and we are looking forward to further cooperation in the years to come!