17 June 2001. The email below was sent in response to an article which appeared in The Washington Times on 13 June 2001, seriously misquoting The Butterfly Conservancy's position on the release of butterflies. The Times' response to this email will be posted here when it is received.

23 September 2001. No one from The Washington Times has ever responded to my letter.

For additional information and research results on the butterfly release controversy, please visit
The International Butterfly Breeders' Association.

From: Sheri Moreau, Director, The Butterfly Conservancy
To: Mr. Christopher Wavrin <webeditor@washtimes.com>, Web Editor, The Washington Times

Subject: Serious misquotes in 13 June 2001 Washington Times

Reference: 13 June 2001 Washington Times article:
      Butterfly protectors try to bar profitable flights
      By Jennifer Harper <jharper@washingtontimes.com>
      http://www.washtimes.com/national/20010613-45329185.htm

Dear Mr. Wavrin,

I am writing to take most severe exception to the above referenced article in the 13 June 2001 edition of The Washington Times, specifically the paragraph regarding my company, The Butterfly Conservancy, www.butterflywings.com.

In my opinion, the author, Ms. Jennifer Harper, failed to properly research her article, and deliberately slanted what information she obtained in a biased and alarmist manner, hardly the hallmark of an ethical journalist, and certainly not a position your respected publication should find itself supporting without full knowledge of the facts in this controversy.

Ms. Harper's article states:

One former butterfly supplier has abandoned the business.

The California-based Butterfly Conservancy has discontinued selling the creatures for social purposes, but will sell to educational programs at zoos or schools where children hand-raise butterflies from caterpillars. "Our primary concern is the welfare of these exquisite and fragile creatures above all else," they say.

FOR THE RECORD: Ms. Harper made no attempt to contact me to verify the information she culled piecemeal from my website; information which had not been updated since May 2000. In point of fact, I closed my successful commercial butterfly farming operation down in 1999 primarily as a result of injuries sustained in an Oct 1998 car accident. I was in thrice-weekly physical therapy October 1998 - April 1999. Regrettably, I was unable to regain full strength/mobility in my right arm, and was no longer able to perform the heavy labor involved in running a greenhouse/nursery business. The decision to close my beloved business was both heart-breaking and emotional. While I continue to raise butterflies as a hobbiest and for my own pleasure from my current location in upstate New York, I have not sold any lepidoptera to anyone since fulfilling the orders I contracted for in 1999.

The statement on my home page, "Our primary concern is the welfare of these exquisite and fragile creatures above all else." quoted by Ms. Harper is true. Her use of my statement out of context, however, was both misleading and inaccurate.

I am on public record as being in favor of butterfly releases. I have been quoted as such in numerous publications, including the National Wildlife Federation magazine. My published article (Copyright March 1998, February 2000) addressing the many spurious and unfounded claims of certain members of the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) can be found on my own website at:
http://www.butterflywings.com/controversy.html

and on The International Butterfly Breeders Association website at:

http://butterflybreeders.org/ click on: Butterfly Releases, why it's okay What the Experts Say or go directly to:
http://butterflybreeders.org/pages/whattheexpertssay.html (unframed version)

NABA continues to make their claims of "butterfly poaching" and "disease carrying insects" despite being unable to provide a single shred of non-anecdotal, scientific evidence in support of their claims: there are no cases of butterfly poachers in courtrooms or jails, and there are decades of disease and migration research showing no adverse effect of releases on insect population. In its zeal to anthropomorphosize (and derive income from, while limiting the income of others?) one order of Insecta (Lepidoptera), NABA's pundits completely ignore the hundreds of trillions of commercially raised beneficial insects released world-wide each year. The species of butterflies approved by the USDA for commercial release are also beneficial insects: their larvae consume plants categorized as "noxious weeds" by the USDA, and the adults contribute to the pollination of flowers in gardens and fields.

Butterfly farming is hardly a new agricultural venture: since 1969, California's Insect Lore, www.insectlore.com has shipped out over 8 million Painted Lady larvae to educational and commercial butterfly farmers, and for wedding releases in the US and Europe www.butterflycelebration.com. Almost every elementary schoolchild in America has reared these insects, in compliance with metamorphosis study guidelines put forth by the National Science Foundation. (Contrary to Ms. Harper's statement, the most commonly released butterfly is the Painted Lady, followed by Monarchs. Swallowtails are rarely released, as they are difficult to raise economically in large numbers.)

The University of Kansas's Monarch Watch, www.monarchwatch.org (eastern Monarch flyway) and San Diego's Monarch Program (western Monarch flyway) have shipped over 350,000 Monarch larvae to commercial and educational butterfly farmers over the last decade. No damage to local butterfly populations nor to the environment has been reported to have occurred as a result of these insects being sold, raised and released. Instead, an astonishingly large number of tagged Monarch Watch- and Monarch Program-originating butterflies have been recovered at Mexico and California overwintering sites, admirably demonstrating that these creatures and their offspring are able to be reared hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles from their point of origin, be released into the wild, and fly thousands of miles to their natural overwintering sites.

In summary, butterfly farming is a complex issue. Unlike ant farming, bee farming, fruitfly farming, wasp farming, beetle farming, tarantula farming, etc., butterflies tend to arouse strong emotions in substantial numbers of humans. The reality is, there are not "hundreds of butterfly farmers" out there: there are less than 20 full-time butterfly farmers in the United States, and less than 100 full-time butterfly farmers WORLDWIDE making a living in this field... with perhaps another 100 or so hobbiest or part-time US butterfly farmers who try it for a season or two and give it up: as with any alternative agricultural endeavor, butterfly farming is physically hard, demanding work, requiring meticulous attention to hygiene and detail. The actual number of released insects is vanishingly small (far less than one hundredth of a percent) when compared to the total population. The documented research, coupled with the sheer weight of incontrovertible mathematics, quite simply, speaks for itself.

It is all too emotionally easy to stamp "BAD" on this issue without taking the time to objectively delve into and evaluate the facts. However, it is incumbent on any professional news journal to accurately portray the pros and cons of the news it reports on in an unbiased manner. I submit to you, Mr. Wavrin, that The Washington Times failed notably in achieving these standards by the dissemination of Ms. Harper's ill-informed article.

I most emphatically request that The Washington Times immediately issue an Errata to the misquotes attributed to me. Please be advised that I have updated my website effective today with a copy of this letter to you, and will post your response, as well.

I would be happy to answer any further questions you may have.

Respectfully,

Sheri Moreau, The Butterfly Conservancy
Oswego, New York
June 17, 2001
<sheri@butterflywings.com>

About the Author: Trained as a wildlife biologist, Sheri Moreau is a past member of the Board of Directors of both the Monarch Program and the International Butterfly Breeders’ Association, and Director of The Butterfly Conservancy. She has raised Lepidoptera for the past 36 years.

Copyright 1998-2001, The Butterfly Conservancy and AkindOfMagick Web Designs.
Worldwide rights reserved.