PRESS RELEASE

It is with much thought and conversation that a decision has been made to cancel the Memorial butterfly release with Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard and community members.  Last year’s event at Felix Neck was extraordinarily moving as many opened their triangular boxes to watch a monarch butterfly unfold its wings and fly with new freedom to the vineyard skies. I made the complicated decision to not try and re-create last year’s magic after learning from Susan Bellincampi, director of Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, that several environmental groups are extremely concerned about the introduction of bred butterfly species (some 11 million a year according to an op-ed articles in the New York Times, August 24, 2006) into the habitat of natural butterflies without creating devastating results. The North American Butterfly Associations suggests that adding butterflies to the environment is really a particularly long-lasting form of environmental pollution. Naturalist John Muir observed. “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”  

The biologists of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) believe that the popular practice of releasing mail order butterflies could leave a legacy of lasting damage. Their concern is that released butterflies could decimate their native counterparts by introducing disease, competing for food and altering survival behavior by interbreeding with them. Many of the state’s native butterflies already are under pressure because their native habitat is vanishing. Ann Potter, of the WDFW,  believes that “releasing non-native animals of any kind teaches a poor lesson because their effect on the local environment is unpredictable and potentially devastating.” Examples abound of non-native fish, animals and plants which overrun their new settings because they lack natural predators. Mexico and California coasts are now the targets for butterfly poachers and butterflies frequently arrive dead or half dead.

Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard is about taking care of the living and making certain that their time is the best it can be. We can not contribute to a potential destruction of life and habitat and we can not risk the experience if the boxes opened to dead creatures. We would like to have a community memorial service and I take advantage of this article to invite you, the community members, to offer suggestions of just how and where we meet to do this. One of the most beautiful memories for me of last year was the diverse collection of island neighbors who met together to honor our loved ones and notice our many connections to each other. I would like to keep these two opportunities open and I hope you will send me your ideas for a gathering which doesn’t threaten our beautiful environment. Please send your ideas to Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard, Attention Terre Young  PO Box 2549  Oak Bluffs, MA  02557. My thanks to Susan Bellincampi for educating me so gracefully.