monarch butterflies are now listed as endangered

Depew NY

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Well, maybe your kids and grand kids will only see monarch butterflies in a museum's mounted insect collection. https://www.npr.org/2022/07/21/1112688105/beloved-monarch-butterflies-are-now-listed-as-endangered The monarch butterfly fluttered a step closer to extinction Thursday, as scientists put the iconic orange-and-black insect on the endangered list because of its fast dwindling numbers. "It's just a devastating decline," said Stuart Pimm, an ecologist at Duke University who was not involved in the new listing. "This is one of the most recognizable butterflies in the world." The International Union for the Conservation of Nature added the migrating monarch butterfly for the first time to its "red list" of threatened species and categorized it as "endangered" — two steps from extinct. . . . Emma Pelton of the nonprofit Xerces Society, which monitors the western butterflies, said the butterflies are imperiled by loss of habitat and increased use of herbicides and pesticides for agriculture, as well as climate change. "There are things people can do to help," she said, including planting milkweed, a plant that the caterpillars depend upon.