What Is Being Done to Save Chinchillas?

Video Transcript

"The question is what is being done to save chinchillas. Now, what we're really talking about here is that the domesticated chinchilla that is bought at pet stores is really not endangered at all. That is something that was bred in the early 1900s in California by a gentleman who took wild chinchillas from South America. But the South American chinchilla is thought to be very endangered, if not certain species extinct. And so things that are being done for those guys in those countries is limited. There's local breeding facilities in some areas and some rescue foundations, but the chinchilla is a unique creature that lives in usually higher elevations -- 10 to 16,000 feet, typically -- and is rarely seen in the wild. And so there are some efforts that are being implemented to try to help keep breeding populations going, but they were over-hunted in the 1800s and 1900s and...for their pelts. And that's what's caused so much problem with that species. And so they were about a dozen were taken to California in the early 1900s and bred domestically from there. And so rescue foundations and things like that are still trying to help their...these species in the wild."