Help the Monarch Population by Raising Them Yourself

After reading about the plight of the monarch population I decided to intervene.

I read, when left in the natural world, only one in ten monarchs reach adulthood.

However, in captivity you can achieve 95%-100% success, so this summer I raised and released 41 monarchs.

I only had one casualty–possibly because the butterflies are susceptible to viruses and fungus.

Also: Huge Victory for Bees: US Court Bans Insecticide Linked to Deaths

I have been growing a patch of milkweed plants in my garden for many years in support of Monarchs because this is their only food supply.

I also like photography. Here is one of my monarchs that I posed on a cone flower in my garden shortly before it took its first flight.

[Editor’s Note: If you want to learn how to raise Monarchs yourself, here are a few internet references)