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Friday, Sept. 16, 2016 - 3:02 p.m.

Butterfly Gardens
*******************
their secret origins


I do know that musicians close to Ringo Starr of the Beatles reported to me that more than 35 years ago two biology students were raising tropical butterflies in their little apartment in London and cultivating the food plants in their bedroom- then shipping the chrysalis back to the vanishing Indonesian jungle for release..

Mr Starr learned of this and immediately instructed the gardeners on his estate to clear out the non functional show plants from his greenhouse and invited the students to carry on their specialty butterfly rescue work there.

They went on to some success sfiguring out the steps to raising weird insects and write science papers . Mr Starr was happy to sponsor them and encourage them in every way .

Their small success inspired a small butterfly conservancy building to open somewhere in the American Carolinas. This was a butterfly garden exhibit that soon became popular with the public - especially Northern snowbirds passing through on their way to Florida. The Butterfy garden was visited by someone with some influence from the Niagara Parks Commission. They were impressed with the whole idea if a living butterfly zoo and when they finally returned home to Canada were able to convince the government to build a larger scaled up version in Ontario. The whole idea was to create a late 20th Century tourist attraction to tap the enormous Niagara falls Tourism trade off season -- a butterfly conservancy with an indoor garden of food plants and a closed to the public hatchery lab.

Adult butterflies raised on site were released inside the conservancy where they spent their entire lives== and Monarchs in season. This exhibit is still very popular and crowded every day of the year, It has a small indoor turtle pond and ramps for wheelchairs..There are feeding stations stocked with the special foods certain butterflies require_ special flowers, chopped rotten fruit.. mango slices.. etc. and a tall double walled transparent geodesic dome atop to klet in natural light. its climate controlled and somewhat hippy in design - a memorial relic of when everybody was so worked up about the disappearing rain forests in Brazil.

I was there opening day and charmed my way into the hatchery lab, God bless them.. it was properly set up and the workers knew what they were doing.. they raise mostly rainforest butterflies because thats what sells. Now I don't have to worry about being the only butterfly rancher left.. smarter people are stepping up and its working out well.

I liken raising butterflies to ancient people suddenly realizing there were no more wild horses or cattle walking around anymore- they are all domesticated - every one has to be cared for and fed and counted,, Thats just how its going with butterflies.. its the last round up

 

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