More on New York Malathion kill of

[Mark Walker]

I'm certainly not an anti-conservationist, nor am I one who has any economic
interest in butterflies whatsoever.  That being said, I've got to make a few
observations about this purported New York Malathion kill-off of Monarchs.

First of all, didn't we just hear many reports of the butterfly migrating in
this area en masse?  Wasn't the sky like full of Monarchs just last week?

Well, as most on the list are aware, a similar phenomenon occurs on the
central coast of California during the fall and overwintering period.
Thousands of Monarchs can be seen in flight all along Pacific Coast Highway.
It's quite a sight, to be sure.

Now, while jogging along the same road, it is quite depressing to see the
hundreds of dead Monarchs that are being bounced off of windshields.  I've
seen it at times when they color the roadside orange.  Furthermore, since
collision injuries are not always immediately fatal, it is not uncommon to
find many dead Monarchs in the adjoining fields along the coast.

How do we know (and why would we assume otherwise) that the dead Monarchs
being spotted by joggers in New York are not victims of roadkill?  Has
someone actually analyzed the dead butterflies to make the Malathion
connection?

Mark Walker

-----Original Message-----
From: Neil at NWJONES.DEMON.CO.UK [mailto:Neil at NWJONES.DEMON.CO.UK]
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 1999 3:32 AM
To: leps-l at lists.yale.edu
Subject: More on New York Malathion kill of (fwd)


Forwarded message follows:

> From owner-dplex-l at raven.cc.ukans.edu Tue Sep 28 06:51:02 1999
> Precedence: bulk
> From: "Lincoln P. Brower" <brower at sbc.edu>
> To: dplex-l at raven.cc.ukans.edu
> Subject: More on New York Malathion kill of monarchs
> 
> There is a report by David Saltonstall in the 26 September 1999 New York
> Daily News on a jogger in New York reporting monarchs having been killed
by
> malathion spray.  You can read the article at the following address:
> 
> 
> http://www.nydailynews.com/1999-09-26/News_and_Views/City_Beat/a-41834.asp
> 
> An excerpt is as follows:
> 
>  Nancy Sanchez-Caro an administrator at Montefiore Medical
>                          Center, was in-line skating in Central Park at
dawn.
> 
>                          The Riverdale woman said she did two laps around
> the park's 6-mile loop in the
>                          early morning gloom and "saw dying monarch
> butterflies on the road the whole
>                          way.
> 
> Lincoln Brower.
> 
> Professor Lincoln P. Brower
> Research Professor of Biology
> Sweet Briar College
> Sweet Briar, VA 24595
> (Distinguished Service
>    Professor of Zoology Emeritus,
>    University of Florida)
> Telephone: Office   804-381-6240
>           	  Home:  804-277-5065
>                      Fax:     804-381-6488
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Neil Jones- Neil at nwjones.demon.co.uk http://www.nwjones.demon.co.uk/
"At some point I had to stand up and be counted. Who speaks for the
butterflies?" Andrew Lees - The quotation on his memorial at Crymlyn Bog
National Nature Reserve