Monarch transfers and releases (fwd)

[Anne Kilmer]

Pavulaan at aol.com wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 97-09-27 09:00:00 EDT, Anne Kilmer writes of Hans
> Schauber's International Federation of Butterfly Enthusiasts:
> 
> << I'd advise his panel of experts to get their names off his list, >>
> 
> Anne:
> 
> No, I don't think I'll have my name removed from the Federation's "board of
> advisors" just yet.    I volunteered to be an advisor, in hopes that a voice
> of moderation might prove an asset to the group.  

This is moderation? Gosh!
I was more concerned about Rick Mikula, if you want to know. He has 
considerable reputation among butterflyers, and this is distinctly bad 
company for him. 

If you want to make your
> voice heard, opinion count, get involved, and perhaps you can sway the group,
> or at least get a wider audience for your views.

If everybody's jumping off a cliff, I don't believe I care to go along 
and try to argue them out of it. I'll just take pictures from up here, 
thank you.
> 
> As far as the Monarch releases, I think all the paranoia and hysteria over
> such a new concept MAY be a bit premature. 

it ain't new. Been tried and tried and tried. Doesn't work, for the 
reasons oft cited.

 Valid concerns expressed so far,
> such as Bob Pyle's, have merit and should be studied.  And, being on who is
> interested in butterfly distributions, I can fully understand those concerns.
> 
>snip

> I think that, if the idea catches on, local sources of butterflies can and
> should be secured.  The focus should be on introducing and propagating native
> local hosts and nectar sources, especially in gardens, and let the
> butterflies recover or reestablish themselves.

absolutely. That's what we're doing in South Florida, where butterfly 
gardens in schools and parks demonstrate to people how butterflies fit 
into the environment. People here are butterfly crazy. And we haven't 
needed to release butterflies in order to demonstrate how lovely they 
are.

  Unless of course, the USDA
> steps in and requires a permit for even rearing caterpillars in your own back
> yard, which will probably be the next step.

Don't you knock my heroes. Bob has been altogether too lenient with this 
dreadful project. 

  But a little publicity for the
> cause, with locally-reared, released butterflies at events can do more good
> by educating the public.  After all, isn't our current mass culture driven by
> sound bytes on the evening news?
> 
> Harry Pavulaan

See, this is why we do the Fourth of July counts, to get people's 
attention. works just fine without doing much harm to the environment. 
oh well. Always nice to hear from harry.
Anne kilmer
South Florida