Dozens of families helped prevent the extinction of an endangered species at the city of Toledo boat ramp, across from the Toledo Zoo & Aquarium on Saturday.

Children including Rina, 12, and Sora, 9, Scroggins carried sturgeon in white buckets with their father, Bill Scroggins, to throw them into the Maumee River.

“My sturgeon waved at me,” Sora said of her sturgeon, whose tail popped out of the water and waved back and forth in her direction.

“He literally popped back up and disappeared,” Mr. Scroggins added.

The trio were among several others that threw one of 1,500 sturgeon into the river. They were educated about the endangered species as part of the zoo’s annual Sturgeon Fest.

The festival, which started in 2018, is part of a state pilot program to reintroduce lake sturgeon into

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