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Opposition to Releases ~ Letters by Farmers and Enthusiasts
Opposition to butterfly releases is a fact of life.
To submit your letter for this page, please Contact Us .
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A butterfly release is often presented by those who oppose releases as 'treating butterflies like confetti'.
Butterfly Release consumers understand the illogical basis of that statement. A consumer would never take the time for care of confetti
as they take to care for butterflies. Consumers would not pay the same amount for confetti as they pay for butterflies.
Consumers would not reserve confetti months, even years, in advance. Consumers would never worry about confetti and how to care for it.
Consumers would never take the time to write letters and send photos of the confetti release. Confetti is stored in a hot car, thrown in the closet,
left in the sun, and treated in ways which is safe for confetti but not for butterflies. Clearly, farmers and consumers alike treat butterflies much differently than confetti.
A farmer understands the work involved in rearing butterflies. A farmer who is involved in funeral/memorial releases
and work with agencies such as Hospice, has seen the healing that a butterfly release brings to hurting hearts.
According to lepidopterists, only two to three percent of eggs laid in the wild become adult butterflies.
A farm operation has a much higher ratio of survival. Butterflies raised at butterfly farms would not exist without the farm operation.
Those shipped for release are alive only because a farmer took time to raise them.
Disease is a concern to those who oppose butterfly releases. Disease is a concern for butterfly farmers also. Farmers are well aware of disease issues.
Farmers work hard to keep wild butterflies from contaminating their line of breeding stock. This is important in order to rear healthy butterflies.
Lepidoptera disease is rampant in nature. Farmers work with insect pathologists to study and research Lepidoptera disease.
Some Lepidoptera diseases are sitting on the shelf at your local nursery or garden department in your local store. You can purchase
these diseases and probably have done so if you are a gardener. Diseases such as NPV (nuclear polyhedrosis virus) and BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis)
are used by gardeners, farmers, and forestry services to kill 'worms' which eat garden vegetables, flowers, shrubs, and trees. Some of these 'worms' are butterfly caterpillars.
Stories of disaster releases have become urban legends. Some are so ridiculous that they are clearly fiction stories. Others have truly happened.
Like with the transportation of any living organism, including humans, accidents happen. Accidents with butterflies are usually due to a consumer
failing to read instructions or shipping company delays. A person who tries to stop butterfly releases and uses these butterfly death accidents as
a basis for his/her argument against releases should take time to sit and tally how many butterflies he/she has killed with the grill of his/her
automobile driving on vacation, to movies, and other unnecessary trips. If butterfly deaths from shipping errors and/or consumer mistakes are basis
for shutting down the industry, then it would be the basis for not allowing any vehicle traffic during daylight hours for any reason other than absolute necessity.
Both will result in unfortunate butterfly deaths, totally unintended. Both activities bring joy to humans.
The release industry is responsible for the life of many butterflies which would not otherwise exist.
The basis of objections is the same basis for the market for our industry; emotion. We do not read about opposition to a farm rearing
and shipping praying mantis, ladybugs, tachnid wasps, trichogramma wasps, chalcid flies, or many other insects which kill butterflies in egg,
larva, or pupa stage. Not only do they kill butterflies, the same argument can be made about disease concerning praying mantis, ladybugs, tachnid wasps,
trichogramma wasps, chalcid flies, and many other insects. We wonder why our oppositions concern is only for the butterfly and they do not show
a concern for ladybugs. Gardeners, nursery owners, and greenhouse managers, as well as others who purchase ladybugs have opened packages with
hundreds of dead ladybugs inside. We wonder why those who object to the death of a butterfly do not mention the death of hundreds of ladybugs.
Of course, the loss of a butterfly is an emotional loss for those of us who are butterfly enthusiasts. We are not undervaluing the emotional
reaction to this death. We are simply noting that it is simply that, emotion. We are also noting that the emotion is not present with ladybugs,
praying mantis, and other insects which are shipped for release. Emotional response is not a logical basis for denying a grieving parent or child a
butterfly release as part of a funeral or memorial. It is not a logical basis for denying a child the joy of releasing butterflies at his/her party.
It is not a basis for denying a bride a butterfly release as a symbol of her new life. It is not a logical basis for shutting down an industry.
~Edith Smith, Shady Oak Butterfly Farm, Brooker, Florida
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