Dire Threat Season

[Mark Walker]

It would be interesting to see what our friends would say if they or their
families ever contracted the West Nile Virus.  I think about it a lot, since
I'm usually in the field without bug spray (pretty stupid, huh?).

It is too bad that we have to spray, though.  Even Paul would have to admit
that life without spraying would be better for bugs in general.

Mark.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Cherubini [mailto:monarch at saber.net]
> Sent: Monday, August 27, 2001 10:26 AM
> To: leps-l at lists.yale.edu
> Subject: Dire Threat Season
> 
> 
> Eight days ago I made the following prediction on this list:
> 
> "Despite the high monarch population, we can be almost certain
> that doom and gloom "monarchs are facing dire threats"
> type articles will soon appear in major newspapers across North
> America."
> 
> Today the following article appeared in a Florida newspaper:
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------------
> Spray may imperil monarch butterfly
> By JULIE HAUSERMAN    
> published August 27, 2001 St. Petersburg Times   
>                                                        . 
> TALLAHASSEE --This year, several U.S. butterfly researchers say, 
> the massive monarch migration could face a threat here in the Florida
> Panhandle, where the state is aerially spraying an insecticide
> called Dibrom to kill mosquitoes that can carry the West Nile virus. 
> 
> "It could be devastating," said Karen Oberhauser, an entomologist
> from the University of Minnesota who has studied monarchs for 17
> years. "The migration is a key link in a chain. If something breaks
> that chain -- like mosquito spray that's going to kill them -- there
> won't be any monarchs to rebuild the population." 
> 
> "Every bird watcher in Florida ought to be screaming bloody
> murder," said Chip Taylor, an insect ecologist at the University of
> Kansas who runs a Web site called Monarch Watch. "They are
> knocking out much of the insect population that the migrating birds
> feed on." 
> 
> The state official in charge of the spraying, Steve Rutz of the
> Department of Agriculture, said the state is using an extremely low
> dose of the pesticide, which should have little effect on humans or
> wildlife. 
> 
> "I'm not aware of any data that shows that routine mosquito control
> activities are decimating the butterflies," Rutz said. "Ideally, you
> don't use mosquito chemicals at all, but in this situation, we're
> looking at protecting public health. You can't say 100 percent of the
> butterflies won't be impacted, but if there are impacts, our
> experience shows they are very minimal."
> 
>  
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