Monarchs in Europe

[Guy_VdP at t-online.de]

Paul Cherubini schrieb:
> No. the average bride orders only 12-24 monarchs. At 
> funerals the number 
> of monarchs ordered is frequently the same as the age of 
> the deceased 
> person.  Due to  legal and quarantine issues, monarch 
> breeders 
> in the USA cannot ship monarchs to European countries for 
> release at events. 
> I thought this whole discussion was about European 
> breeders breeding and selling 
> monarchs in their own countries for release - not about 
> European brides  
> ordering from USA suppliers.
> 
It would still mess up the results. And i think you missed my second 
post on this, which added the thought how easy it is nowadays to import 
anything. 
> 
> In some years there are over a hundred monarch sightings 
> in 
> the British Isles 
> http://www.butterfly-guide.co.uk/help/monmig.htm 
> These major sighting consistently occur during late 
> September and October 
> whereas most of the monarch releasing at events takes 
> place during the  
> period May-early Sept. 
> 
So the ones eventually arriving before september/october would be 
totally neglected. 
> 
> The milkweed growing in these parks or hotel gardens is 
> Asclepias currassavica 
>  - a milkweed introduced to Europe from the West Indies.  
> Thus neither  
> monarchs nor Asclepias currassavica is native to these 
> countries. Would you  
> favor exterminating the monarch and Asclepias 
> currassavica from these 
> countries if it was logistically possible to do so 
> because "they don't belong 
> there"?

On the Canary Islands, without any doubt, I say yes. Half of the 
butterflies occurring there are endemics, I think the same goes for the 
rest of nature there. The Monarch is a 'lesser evil' as it is not a 
direct competitor for any of the native species, not like Vanessa 
atalanta, living in the same habitat as Vanessa vulcania. I don't know 
for Asclepias curassavica, but especially if it were to occur in the 
protected areas - state parks - it should be weeded out. The species 
there have no niche to retreat to, they're already living in one. 
Tourism and other human activities have already damaged the forests to 
an extent that some species are already missing on some of the islands. 
E.g. Pieris cheiranthi, a nephew of P. brassicae, has not been seen for 
many years on La Gomera. It is probably extinct there, the only places 
in the world it still occurs being the islands of Teneriffa and La 
Palma. 
So, if it were possible, I would support the eradication of V. atalanta 
on these islands. To eradicate the monarch, the profits are not high 
enough. 
But maybe Asclepias curassavica needs to be weeded out, and that would 
take care of the monarch as well. 
For what concerns the rest of Europe, the best way not to get into 
trouble, is not to go looking for it. So keep the monarchs where they 
are. We already have a king in Belgium ;-). 

Guy.

 
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