Butterflies to cheer Canterbury

MONARCH BUTTERFLY

NEW ZEALAND TRUST

PRESS RELEASE

Butterflies to cheer Canterbury

This summer The Monarch Butterfly NZ Trust has arranged two ‘close up and personal’ exhibits of butterflies– Monarchs and Admirals–to brighten the lives of earthquake-ravaged Christchurch residents.

“We asked ourselves what we could do to help the recovery effort, and knowing how much Christchurch people love their gardens–and Monarch butterflies–we thought a butterfly release this summer would give people renewed hope in tomorrow,” said spokesperson Jacqui Knight. “Christchurch has always been a beautiful city with well laid out parks and gardens, and it’s important to focus on the future.”

Soon after the Monarch Butterfly NZ Trust was formed six years ago they were invited to participate in the Festival of Flowers & Romance. They will be back again this year with a display at the Canterbury Museum.

“We are looking forward to it,” said Norm Twigge, Chairman. “Our members are getting behind the displays and contributions are coming from members all over the country.”

The Monarch Butterfly NZ Trust was originally formed to protect an overwintering habitat of the beautiful orange and black Monarch butterfly, a native, but today the activities include protecting all NZ’s species of butterflies and moths as well as habitat.

“There are many organisations working to protect kiwi, kokako and kauri,” said Trust spokesperson Jacqui Knight, “but NZ has very few species of butterflies and they are becoming less known each year.”

NZ’s Red Admiral is a classic example.

“World-renowned lepidopterist Nigel Venters says that the NZ Red Admiral, Bassaris gonerilla, known as Kahukura to the Maori, is the most beautiful in the world,” Norm added. “It’s endemic, found only in NZ, but in many places now you won’t see it any more. Admirals breed on stinging nettle–and gardeners and developers think this is a ‘nasty weed’ which has to be eradicated.”

People are also keen to know how to help the native Monarch butterfly in their own garden, finding out more about its host plants and a range of plants to provide nectar to butterflies and bees. So great is the demand that the Monarch Butterfly NZ Trust now runs an on-line course in creating butterfly habitat.

“We have rolled our butterfly fauna back to the mountains and far-flung places,” added Norm. “so that now many once familiar species are no longer found in cities, towns or surrounding countryside.”

“Sadly, young New Zealanders are no longer familiar with even our most common butterflies because of the elimination of them from our cities, towns and countryside. We hope to change that.”

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