San Francisco Ban on Commercially-Purchased Butterflies Proceeds

With all the work I've done in pulling San Francisco out of the sad legacy of the Xerces Blue ( the first butterfly to be removed from Planet Earth by humans...) , it hasn't helped that a strange, perverse relationship we still have with these creatures exists: butterflies being used for releases at weddings and events. This industry of farmed-raised butterflies exploded during the Dot-Com era and has become a multi-million dollar juggernaut.
Imagine going to a building opening and releasing...40 squirrels into the environment. A new playground for kids and we release...100 turtles!
Ridiculous notions but for some bizarre reason we use butterflies...as party favors. Their beauty has reduced them to...objects to be used as props at the human circus.
I ran into Jeffrey Glassberg, the President of the North American Butterfly Association at Saddlebag Lake this year during the Yosemite Butterfly Count. I told him I want San Francisco to be the first county in the nation to ban such a practice and to start to shut down this ridiculous fad. ( Just because you like chickadees, and you raise chickadees, doesn't give you the right to sell chickadees and release them. That ability was removed, thankfully, with the Migratory Species Act of 1914. It's time we do the same for butterflies.) He's thrilled that something he's written extensively on might actually come to fruition. Beautiful irony it would emanate from the land of Xerces.
Last night, the Commission for the Environment voted to support this resolution ( an ordinance I've been working with environmental lawyers on for over a year.) It has been adopted by the Dept. for the Environment and now we go courting a Supervisor to move it through City Hall. Ah, the Politics of Butterflies. KPIX News Piece:

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/9596445-ban-on-releasing-butterflies-up-for-debate-in-san-francisco/

The iNat photos I've chosen here are some of the nine species allowed by the Dept. of Agriculture ( cuz as pretty as they are, folks, they are considered pests on plants...) to be sold across state lines.

Posted on December 4, 2013 08:50 PM by robberfly