Got your permits??

[Paul Cherubini]

Michael Mintz wrote:

> There are 9 species of butterflies approved for release in
> the United States.  The reason for this regulation at a federal level is
> that caterpillars eat plants.  And therefore caterpillars are classified by 
> the USDA as plant PESTS.  A state will not allow you to release a
> butterfly where the caterpillar hostplant is or could become endangered. 
> Make sense?  

No it doesn't make sense in the case of the 9 butterfly species you mentioned
- nearly all which naturally range literally from coast to coast. How could
releases of monarchs, painted ladies, red admirals, american painted ladies,
gulf fritillaries, mourning cloaks and black swallowtails conceivably  cause a 
problem for their extremely abundant caterpillar host plants?
Are there any precedents in the literature for such disasters? Can you offer a model
that would outline how its conceivable that releases of these species could cause
their caterpillar host plants to become endangered or extinct?

> There are all sorts of rules like this but each of these
> rules has a REASON.  These permits help PROTECT the agricultural 
> environment.

Biological or political reasons? What is the biological reason the USDA
regulates the interstate shipment and release of butterfly species which are not
pests of agricultural crops (e.g. monarchs, painted ladies, red admirals,
american painted ladies, gulf fritillaries, mourning cloaks, black swallowtails)?
What role do the above named species play in agriculture? 

What is the biological reason behind the
USDA prohibition against shipping monarchs across the Rockies?  What is
the biological reason behind the USDA prohibition against shipping wild caught
vs captive reared monarchs across state lines? What is the biological
behind the USDA prohibition against shipping more than 250 monarchs
per shipment to one location?

If these are no biological reasons for these rules and regulations in regard
to the above names species then how are they protecting anything? 

Paul Cherubini