Monarch article in Ft Worth Star-Telegram

[Paul Cherubini]

> Monarch butterflies, hit hard by strong storms at their winter home in
> Mexico, have dwindled to their lowest population levels in decades

There were numerous worrisome articles like that back in 2002 too after 
a severe mortality event in January and a prediction from Dr. Chip Taylor 
that it might take the monarchs "more than one year" to rebound:

http://www.MonarchWatch.org/news/021102.html
"Unfortunately, it appears that the conditions (i.e., soil moisture, predators,
etc.) in Texas and the Midwest will not be as favorable this coming breeding
season. If the population is as low or lower than that of last spring, it could
take the monarchs more than one season to rebound from the freeze of 2002."

However, normal numbers of monarchs returned to the Sanctuaries 
10 months later (in the fall of 2002):
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/storm.jpg

About 4 weeks ago (Feb. 22) I sent a private email to Alex Grkovich 
predicting the Monarch Scientific Establishment would make sure a bunch of
worrisome articles like those that appeared in 2002 would hit national 
newspapers "within 2-4 weeks". Today is March 19 so my prediction
was correct.  See below:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date:  Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:00:11 -0800 
From: Paul Cherubini <monarch at saber.net>
To:  Alex Grkovich <agrkovich2003 at yahoo.com>

Yep within 2-4 weeks we will see a repeat of this:

February 12, 2002
Storm in Mexico Devastates Monarch Butterfly Colonies
By CAROL KAESUK YOON
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/12/science/12BUTT.html

February 12, 2002 07:34 PM ET
Mexico Butterfly Deaths May Hit Future Migrations
By Pav Jordan
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=sciencenews&StoryID=591531

Wednesday, 13 February, 2002, 12:24 GMT
Mass butterfly deaths after storm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1818000/1818158.stm

Millions of butterflies killed by freak storm
By Ronald Buchanan in Mexico City
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/02/13/
wbutt13.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/02/13/ixworld.html

February 13, 2002
Monarch Butterflies Dying in Mexico
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Mexico-Monarch-Mystery.html

February 14, 2002
Mass Monarch Butterfly Die-Off Likely the Result of Deforestation and Lack
of Tree Cover, WWF Says World Wildlife Fund
http://www.worldwildlife.org/news/headline.cfm?newsid=327

 
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