Tthe Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety, Xerces Society and monarch scientist Dr. Lincoln Brower filed a legal petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) seeking protection for monarchs under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
According to the petitioners, monarchs have declined by a shocking 90% in less than 20 years and "may have lost more than 165 million acres of habitat - an area about the size of Texas - including nearly a third of their summer breeding grounds." Last winter, the numbers of these iconic butterflies reached a record low, raising worries about their future survival.
"Monarchs are in a deadly free fall and the threats they face are now so large in scale that Endangered Species Act protection is needed sooner rather than later, while there is still time to reverse the severe decline in the heart of their range," said Brower, who has been studying the species since 1954.
Protection under the ESA would not only make it illegal to kill monarch butterflies, but it will also mean no one can modify their habitat without a permit and that they will get designated critical habitat needed for their survival. Next, the FWS will issue a “90-day finding” to see if the petition is warranted and if it comes back in their favor, it will do a one-year status review.
Story via Care2. Read more here.
Graph of Monarch overwintering area courtesy Monarch Watch.