tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5588026658327568372024-03-12T17:21:38.698-07:00ButterflyWorkx Butterfly FarmAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05262587455492442060noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-558802665832756837.post-62039633972279642022014-10-28T09:48:00.003-07:002014-10-28T09:48:37.761-07:00<header>
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Number of Monarch Butterflies Released Annually Closer to 32,000 than
“millions and millions” as Claimed by Endangered Species Act Petitioners
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xVkxfyYBSEA/VE_IsARfj5I/AAAAAAAAAGQ/8_NNdcZd88Q/s1600/ibbamon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xVkxfyYBSEA/VE_IsARfj5I/AAAAAAAAAGQ/8_NNdcZd88Q/s1600/ibbamon.jpg" height="320" width="209" /></a></div>
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<time datetime="2014-10-28T14:00:00Z" itemprop="dateModified">October 28, 2014 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time</time>
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MIAMI--(<span itemid="http://www.businesswire.com" itemprop="provider publisher copyrightHolder" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization"><span itemprop="name"><a href="http://www.businesswire.com/" itemprop="url" rel="nofollow">BUSINESS WIRE</a></span></span>)--The <a href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.butterflybreeders.org%2F&esheet=50970263&newsitemid=20141028005158&lan=en-US&anchor=International+Butterfly+Breeders%27+Association&index=1&md5=6cc95576b3884f1fc7ad0e5296d14bd7" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">International
Butterfly Breeders’ Association</a> (IBBA), which represents 104 members
around the world, took issue with inaccurate claims made by petitioners
hoping to achieve “threatened” status for the iconic Monarch butterfly (<i>Danaus
plexippus plexippus</i>) under the Endangered Species Act.
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“nobody knows exactly how many
have been commercially produced”</div>
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On August 26, 2014, several groups (Xerces Society, Center for Food
Safety, Center for Biological Diversity and Dr. Lincoln Brower)
submitted a <a href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biologicaldiversity.org%2Fspecies%2Finvertebrates%2Fpdfs%2FMonarch_ESA_Petition.pdf&esheet=50970263&newsitemid=20141028005158&lan=en-US&anchor=petition&index=2&md5=172eaac7155b85748d380a92878dc46f" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">petition</a>
to the Secretary of the Interior that suggested “at least a few million
monarchs are released into the wild annually.” In fact, the number of
Monarchs released by commercial butterfly breeders annually is less than
32,000 according to the original source quoted.
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The claim for Monarch releases was extracted from a <a href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2006%2F08%2F24%2Fopinion%2F24lockwood.html%3F_r%3D2%26&esheet=50970263&newsitemid=20141028005158&lan=en-US&anchor=New+York+Times+op-ed+piece&index=3&md5=6789f6dbf02c64a6cfc4c2f4b466b4ee" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">New
York Times op-ed piece</a> authored in 2006 by Professor Jeffrey
Lockwood, University of Wyoming. He estimated 11 million mostly Painted
Lady (<i>Vanessa cardui</i>) and Monarch butterflies were released
annually by the industry.
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In the article, Professor Lockwood noted “nobody knows exactly how many
have been commercially produced,” and that he was “extrapolating from
one company’s figures.” At the time, it was the only available estimate
for an industry that includes releases for ceremonial, memorial and
educational use. When asked recently by an IBBA representative how he
arrived at the number, Lockwood retrieved an <a href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.butterflybreeders.org%2Fpublic%2Fdocs%2FLockwood%28NYTimes%29.pdf&esheet=50970263&newsitemid=20141028005158&lan=en-US&anchor=email&index=4&md5=7f77c53812e432a872e17227ff957af2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">email</a>
detailing a discussion with his New York Times editor.
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He told the editor he was quoting a website, <a href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.butterflynursery.com%2F&esheet=50970263&newsitemid=20141028005158&lan=en-US&anchor=Butterflies+and+Blueberries&index=5&md5=dd0e61c22166b9f2464e2716b7301cfc" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Butterflies
and Blueberries</a>, which presented data from Insect Lore, a popular
online destination that serves educators by providing inexpensive
Painted Lady butterflies for teaching metamorphosis. It also cited
numbers from Monarch Watch, a highly respected organization that
provides educational material, tracks the Monarch migration, and offers
various butterfly life stages for purchase.
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“In the past 32 years, Insect Lore sold 8 million Painted Lady larvae …
and Monarch Watch sold 250,000 Monarchs in 8 years,” Lockwood’s emails
show. Lockwood said he combined the two numbers and did the math. In his
final estimate of 11 million butterflies commercially released per year,
only 31,250 were Monarch butterflies.
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The 11 million number is presented as fact in the petition to list the
Monarch as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. It is the basis
for claiming that the industry releases so many Monarchs that they
threaten the wild population by possibly introducing diseases,
contaminating the gene pool, and interfering with scientific studies.
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“That such an unverified claim surfaced in a formal petition before the
Secretary of the Interior demonstrates a serious failure in
documentation at best,” said Kathy Marshburn, IBBA president.
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“It’s misleading and poor scholarship by the petitioners,” said Dr.
Tracy Villareal, an oceanographer, part owner of Big Tree Butterflies
butterfly farm, and a board member of the IBBA. “The authors made no
attempt to determine the composition of the 11 million--how many of each
species, for example. Nor did they attempt to contact the author to
determine how he arrived at this number. It took me about four hours
from my initial email to Professor Lockwood to find out how it was done.”
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“Professor Lockwood’s approach was reasonable and the best available
estimate at the time,” Dr. Villareal continued. “However, it did not
produce the values claimed in the petition. This is an important
document with serious outcomes for people’s livelihoods. The petitioners
have a responsibility to do their homework. They clearly did not in this
case.”
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The IBBA is currently conducting a survey of its membership to provide a
more accurate tally of Monarch releases by commercial breeders in the
organization. Findings will be released at their annual convention in
November 2014, in Ft. Lauderdale.
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The IBBA is an international, non-profit, membership-based trade
association promoting high standards of ethics, competence and
professionalism in the breeding of quality Lepidoptera for all purposes.
We accomplish this through research, grower education, market
development, and habitat conservation and restoration.
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Contacts</h2>
International Butterfly Breeders Association<br />Kathy Marshburn,
832-671-4755<br /><a href="mailto:kathy.marshburn@yahoo.com" target="_blank">kathy.marshburn@yahoo.com</a><br />or<br />Tracy
Villareal 361-816-2525<br /><a href="mailto:Tracyv001@gmail.com" target="_blank">Tracyv001@gmail.com</a>
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