Eight skinks - three Otago and five grand - will be translocated from small populations in the high country near Wanaka to Peacock Springs in Christchurch on April 9.
Department of Conservation Grand and Otago Skink Recovery Programme manager Andy Hutcheon said as there were only a couple of thousand of each species in the Macraes and Lindis areas, it was important to safeguard the Hawea-Lindis population.
The Peacock Springs captive breeding programme would greatly enhance conservation of both species as they had similar climatic conditions and expertise, he said.
"Unless large-scale predator management is undertaken in these areas, their extinction in the wild is imminent."
The eight skinks have a different genetic signature to the larger eastern Otago population protected by Doc predator control at Macraes Flat so the transfer was a major step towards protecting the genetic diversity of the vulnerable species, he said.
