Collecting in Florida

[Anne Kilmer]

My fellow lepers,
May I gently point out that hunting butterflies in our Florida parks is a bit like
hunting chickens in a barnyard.
Schools, garden clubs, scouts and other organizations have planted
butterfly-attracting plants: nectar and larval hosts. We've cosseted them, counted
the larvae and studied the nesting birds and other predators, with growing joy as
populations rebound.
Granted, the governmental agencies don't all see the big picture, and the
bulldozers still go scraping across our prairies. We're working on that.
Granted, also, that collectors can produce useful data that will guide us all in
our efforts to restore the environment. That's why you get permits.
Come the revolution, we'll have butterfly farm/bean farms where you may wave your
net to your heart's content, in a lepidopterous safari. Yup, just like those farms
where you catch pond-raised trout. Oh boy.
sincerely
Anne Kilmer
South Florida

Chuck Vaughn wrote:

> Daniel Glaeske wrote:
> >
> > I don't know what the legal situation is but virtually the same thing
> > happened to me last summer.  Very embarassing since we had company from
> > Canada down at the time.  The park officials compared having butterfly
> > nets in the park to having unregistered hunting rifles.  (oddly enough,
> > at this park,anyway, hunting with rifles for game animals in season <is>
> > legal, but simply possessing lepidoptera paraphenalia is <not> legal).
>
> It seems they think catching butterflies is the same as shooting vertebrate
> animals? This sounds like environmentalism run amok. Why do ignorant laws
> like this get enacted? I thought the reason we *had* parks was for the public's
> use. You can get a hunting license, a fishing license and even though I think
> it's unnecessary, I wouldn't be against a butterfly catching license.
>
> So Florida wants to throw you in jail for catching a butterfly in a park but
> they have no problem with the suburbs chewing up habitat year after year.
> This really makes a lot of sense...
>
> Chuck Vaughn  <aa6g at aa6g.org>