WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) — The most iconic butterfly in the United States, the monarch butterfly, may warrant federal protections. On Monday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it would begin a year-long review of the butterfly’s protection status.
If biologists determine the beleaguered butterfly to be significantly threatened by extinction, officials could decide to list the monarch as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act — a federal law that affords plants and animals special protections.
The status review was initiated in response to a petition put forward by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for Food Safety, the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and Dr. Lincoln Browe.
Monarchs and their large orange and black patterned wings are found all across the United States. A large portion of the insect’s population makes an exhausting yearly migration — sometimes as long as 3,000 miles — from North America to Mexico.
“This journey has become more perilous for many monarchs because of threats along their migratory paths and on their breeding and wintering grounds,” FWS officials wrote in a released statement.
Though their numbers appeared to bounce back in 2014, monarch populations have rapidly declined over the last decade. While pesticide toxicity has taken some of the blame for their plummeting numbers, habitat loss is the insect’s most significant threat. The caterpillars that turn into monarchs feed exclusively on milkweed, a flowering plant that’s been decimated by the expansion of industrial agriculture across America’s heartland.
The Fish and Wildlife Service will field public comments on the impending status review for the next 60 days.
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