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News Brief
May 22, 2018DES MOINES, Iowa |
By: Sansone / INS
Monarch butterflies face extinction
Wildlife officials say the "king" of butterflies could meet the same fate as the passenger pigeon unless people step in to plant more of the monarch caterpillars' only food source – milkweed.
The monarch butterfly population has crashed, according to Naomi Edelson with the National Wildlife Federation, and can only be revived with a conservation strategy that improves its habitat by increasing its food supply.
The eastern monarch population, which is found east of the Rocky Mountains, has declined 90 percent in recent decades and Edelson believes we'll miss them when they're gone. Edelson worries the decline in monarch butterflies recalls the era of the passenger pigeon.
The passenger pigeon population went from billions in the late 1880s to zero only fifty years later due to uncontrolled hunting. In 2014, the monarch butterfly was petitioned for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act, and a decision on whether listing is warranted is expected in 2019.
