please help us...HERE I COME!

[Paul Cherubini]

Jere Kahanpää wrote:

> Come on, trucking butterflies around and releasing them
> has nothing in common with being 'pro-collecting' or
> 'anti-collecting'!

> Personally I am for careful sampling of populations for study 
> and teaching, but would strongly oppose this kind of 
> operationg *if it is only for the show*. But this case it 
> isn't: tagging monarchs is (IIRC) a real scientific research 
> project, isn't it?

You say you are strongly opposed to collecting and trucking 
butterflies around for release if it is only for show. Do you also 
oppose those who breed and release monarch butterflies for show? 
Or would it be OK if the breeders also tagged the butterflies
for scientific research?  Here is a picture of the new International 
Butterfly Breeders Association (IBBA) tag that will be placed on 
monarch butterflies released at weddings and funerals.
http://www.saber.net/~monarch/tags3.JPG

Bob Pyle, author and cofounder of the Xerces Society, has 
already expressed how he feels about tagging wedding butterflies:
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/04.20.00/butterfly-0016.html

"All these people who breed butterflies, their mission statements 
are so full of biological crap. It's a smokescreen for profit," 
Pyle says.

Paul Cherubini
Placerville, Calif.

 
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