Logging Endangers Monarch Butterflies In Mexico

Ocampo, Mexico (AHN)-- The secret surrounding the migratory instincts of monarch butterflies has not been completely understood. But the impending reality of losing their natural habitat is reportedly a bio-tragedy waiting to occur, with illegal logging as the primary threat, critics say.

The 124,000 -acre land covering areas in Michoacan and Mexico states has been the home of the monarch butterflies for over a hundred centuries. Every autumn, they travel 3,400 miles from Eastern Canada to Central Mexican Mountains, where they lay eggs to propagate their species.

Despite Mexico's presidential decree of November, 2000 which prohibits logging within the Monarch Butterfly Biosphre Reserve, the relentless cutting of trees continues to jeopardize the future of these migrating insects.

Satellite photos taken by Lincoln Brower, a biology researcher, revealed large areas ( or a total of 1,100 acres) of century-old trees have vanished in just four years due to illegal logging.

The Mexico's National Commission for Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) has taken actions to halt this environmental crisis and eventually save the Monarch buttermilk that help promote local tourism in Mexico.