Wow, that is really disturbing, Sandy. I mean, surely $100 a month does not make a sustainable living for them. What about contamination issues, diseases introduced to local populations, etc.? I am surprised that the directors of the Fair would allow it if they knew the potential repurcussions.

Susan

Not a chance that the USDA would approve of this. And yes, the non-native butterflies we see in USA butterfly houses are grown specifically for butterfly houses.

I'd contact your local branch of the USDA first. Decent chance they are not up on butterflies though so be prepared to go up the chain.

KC

Oh, how very sad and horrible. I cannot imagine it. Must have been so hard to stand there and look at that. I guess that there isn't much that people won't do for money. :o(

A kind person from this forum emailed me and did some research based on info I sent to her. She learned that this group does have the proper permits.

It's frustrating to see someone use the butterflies in such a careless way to make money--and apparently this is a money-making venture. At least, it looks like they are going through the proper channels to obtain the BFs.

sandy

It does not sound like he has the proper permits. There are a lot of issues with this. From the illegal importing, to the collecting, to the containment. I have attached below the PDF link for all the requirements for containment. If it is just a mesh tent, there is no way it is okay. You have to have a containment permit as well as an import permit. If I read the rules correctly, import permits are to a specific location. Not a travelling show. Then there is a separate permit required for an educational exhibit. Containment is a serious issue. It is why we only raise local native butterflies. You have to have entry and exit, and a receiving room that will prevent butterflies, pathogens, and parasites from escaping. Mesh is not acceptable. Most of the facilities I have seen are glass and have double entries and exits. Many have HVAC systems that pressurize those entries and exits to prevent escape as well. Anytime any butterfly escapes they have to report it. Even the location for the exhibit must be cited properly away from agricultural areas. So a travelling tent would not work. They also have contained areas that the pupae are put in so that any parasitoids that may emerge are contained. You will notice that any butterfly exhibit you go to, with exotics, will have the pupae in some sort of enclosed glass or plexiglass, so you can see it but keep it contained.

You can also look at the Aphis website, http://www.aphis.usda.gov/. It will have all the rules for importation as well.

As you probably know, many biologists help set up butterfly farms in several critical areas around the world to preserve butterflies. By getting locals to raise butterflies, they would not collect rare species from the wild. Also, they would protect the habitat to help preserve their origin stock. It has been sucessful for many areas including Costa Rica. One example is El Bosque Nuevo (http://www.elbosquenuevo.org/). If you go to their website, they even state that you must have an APHIS permit to order butterflies. I don't know where this guy is getting his butterflies, but if he is bypassing one of these legitimate sites, he may be encouraging the very type of collecting we wish to avoid.

As to turning the guy in. Well, there are issues there as well. I was an inspector (won't say what kind :)) for a state agency for ten years. Depending on the agency, there may be only a few inspectors for the entire country. I suspect this is true for APHIS. It may be a duty that a full time inspector for another area of USDA does a few days a year. You will have to contact them to find out who is in charge for the area. Documentation helps a lot. The inspectors need lots of evidence to issue citations. If you can tell them the name, date, location, and the broadcast info of the news piece that will help.

You can always call APHIS just to check if he does have the right permits too.

-Elisabeth

Here is a link that might be useful: Aphis containment guidelines

Sandy,

Some ramblings FWIW...

Just because these folks are going through the USDA APHIS permit process to obtain the leps doesn't mean that the USDA knows what they are doing with them, or would approve of it. The USDA has specific guidelines for leps that are used for public display. From what you've posted I doubt they are following them (at least not the requirements for an approved facility with public access). A search of the APHIS web site will direct you to those requirements if you want to compare them to what they are doing. As suggested a call to your local USDA would put the ball in their court to check it out.

As for the livestock being wild collected instead of specifically reared for this purpose, good luck. Very few countries are governed with specific regulations like we are, and even if they do have regs in place they don't police them. With the increase in value of lepidoptera to collectors (some species bring sevral hundreds of dollars or more per specimen), many people in foreign countries make 100% of or at least subsidize their income by collecting wild leps and selling them to anybody who will pay the price. Even our own US Customs is a joke when it comes to lepidoptera as most agents don't know the specific regs as they pertain to leps, and all of them are uneducated in the species determinations of leps. They simply go by the inventory on the import document, and if none of the species listed is on their list of protected species they will simply pass them through. I doubt they even take a head count to match even the number in the package against the permit.

You mentioned Costa Rica as the source of many (most) of the species they have in this display. FWIW, customs in Costa Rica is a division of the countries Department of Treasury, so their main purpose is to collect taxes on imports into the country. I doubt they would pay much attention to a non commercial package shipping out of their country. And like our own customs their agents probably have no clue about lepidoptera anyway.

Way back when I actively did foreign species they were governed by our US Fish and Wildlife Department's Law Enforcements Division. They had very specific regulations for the import/export of lepidoptera that included all the "acts" to protect them (ESA, CITES, Lacy Act, etc). Even so as long as a package contained an approved import/export permit our customs portals would pass them through without question, even if the species were mislabeled or had been collected illegally, and it mattered not if they were papered adults or livestock. So the introduction of an invasive species was not a concern of customs. Has the USDA improved on the system? I doubt it, because it still comes down to the knowledge of the specific regs and species recognition of the customs agent who processes it at our customs portals.

Selling leps is a big business worldwide. Is it exploiting a natural resource? It depends on if they are coming from wild collecting or from butterfly farms IMO. If wild collected stock is being sold for profit, yes IMO. If reared from pairings of farm raised adults specifically to sell that's not exploitation IMO. Are "legal" living butterfly exhibits exploiting a natural resource either way? Yes they are in the sense that a zoo does the exact same things. Only you can decide for yourself if the educational good of either out weighs the bad.

Larry

Sigh...unfortunately, the world and government have yet to attend to the welfare our fine winged friends. At the risk of sounding a bit crazy, I am going to give my opinion: living things are living things, and the abuse and exploitation of any living thing, whether they have six legs or two, is wrong. I am sure that if the people running this exhibit were like-minded, they would do their best to improve the living conditions of these poor creatures.

Jibd - I'm afraid the "offendors" only concern is to improve their own living conditions, and I'm rather ambivalent on that point. I know that whether or not my children were fed that day, it would be the butterfly that had to go, extreme as that may sound. Who knows what this guy's financial situation is, too.

Maybe he just happens to have a buddy in Costa Rica that whispered in his ear one day, "hey, I'll send you some butterfly chrysalises and you can make some money, dude". The guy had no clue there were laws in place governing the activity, so he pleads ignorance. And, a source of income was born. But, as Judge Judy says, "ignorance of the law is not a defense". You go, girl!

On the other hand, if I have to live by the "laws of the land", why doesn't everybody else? Discussion of this issue is like breaking into a hornet's nest with your bare hands! Yikes!

Ah, another thought. If this guys gets cash daily, wonder if he reports it to the IRS and the OTC? I bet not. Just more food to feed my already crazy comspiracy thinking....

Susan

This is just a thought:

Our county fair has a board of supervisors. These guys have an interest in making the fair work well from one year to the next. Suppose you approached them with your ducks in a row -- the relevant USDA regs documented, etc. -- and made a case that the butterfly tent next year should be better run so as to conform to appropriate law.

Not a "I want this event stopped" kind of thing, but a "I want this event to be done properly."

I'm guessing that's your best shot at making a difference.

The only other possibility is going to the press, but you probably don't want to spend your reputation on this issue.

Jeff,

This guy has spent a lot of time promoting himself as Mr. Wonderful, so it wouldn't do to attack him. He appears to have all the permits. He has been selling butterflies since the late 90's, starting with Monarchs. He estimated he raised and sold over 100,000 one year. Now he has moved on to exotic stock. He moved from Minneapolis to Oklahoma, and resides in a small community outside of Tulsa. It's an ag community.

When researching all the articles I found, the big question is whether he meets the guidelines on the set up of the tent. And, I think I could complain about too many people being allowed into the tent at a time, causing injury to the butterflies.

He also has a store on Ebay where he sells the dead specimens. The store hasn't been active since January. However, I think this is OK. According to what I read in the guidelines--he just can't give them away.

He appears to be a person who has found he can make money by exploiting butterflies in the name of "educating" people through his exhibits. He has put on large exhibits in Canada with up to 50,000 butterflies.

If anyone would like to read about this person, just click on the link below which is a script from a local TV station. I googled his name and found quite a lot of info. The organization/business name is MonarchsForever, but you won't find much doing a search, except that he has sold on Ebay for about 10 years with a 100% rating.

Sandy

Here is a link that might be useful: Butterfly tent at Tulsa Fair

I guess if he has all the right permits, I would approach the Fair Board with your concerns. Seems like they could stop it....at least in the future.