Fixing broken wings on monarchs: a well-meaning, but uninformed and misguided practice
- Andy Davis
- 47 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Hi blog readers,
Today I'm going to take a deep dive into the growing practice of "fixing" monarch butterfly wings, which is something that seems to get everyone's attention at least once a year, usually with some viral video. This year was no different, as the latest one from a place in New York has been circulating online lately, plus, drawing a lot of media (journalists') attention. A link to the video is below. As you can see from the blog title, these instances are examples of well-meaning people who are maybe conducting these "operations" with the best of intentions, but, who don't have all the facts about monarchs, and because of that, could be doing some real harm. Let me explain in this post.
The latest video to go viral is one from a wildlife rehab facility in New York, where they report how someone brought in a monarch that had fallen after it had eclosed from its pupal case. Since the people at the facility (like everyone on the planet) thought that since the monarch population is in trouble (which it isn't), they should then step in and try to fix this poor monarchs' wing, just like they do with the injured birds and other critters they care for. In this video, the person narrating describes how they conducted the "operation," which involved cutting away the broken bits of the wing, then gluing a different wing on. At the end of the video, there is a happy release, with happy background music playing. This video, and others like it, all give viewers lots of warm fuzzy feelings, which is why these usually go viral each year, and why journalists love doing stories on them.
Before going further, let me first say that I am a big supporter of wildlife rehab facilities like the one in the video, as these places do great work to help injured wildlife, often with minimal staffing and volunteers. Though in this case, they should not have stepped in to save this monarch, and they really should have consulted with someone who has expertise in butterflies.
Here's the problem, or at least the biggest one I see. That "injured" monarch, or others in these viral videos from years past, is likely infected with the OE parasite. For those who don't know what this is, you can read more about it here - www.monarchparasites.org. For now, know that this parasite weakens infected monarchs, which can affect how well they can grip onto a pupal case, for example. And, it also affects the wing tensile strength of infected monarchs - I've tested this in my own lab. Infected monarch wings are more brittle. And finally, know that when monarchs are infected, their abdomens are covered with infectious spores of the parasite, which fall off like glitter. These spores are microscopic, and so without actually looking at the monarch's abdomen (or a sample of its abdomen) with a microscope, one wouldn't know it was infected. I noticed in this video, and in the others, that this infection NEVER is mentioned, so it is safe to assume the people involved had no clue. If they did, they certainly would not have done this.
So, if the monarch with the broken wing was infected (highly likely), then "fixing" its wing so that it could fly is probably the worst thing that you could do. Now, you have an infected monarch that is flying around, dropping its infectious payload on every plant it lands on, and getting more and more future monarchs sick. The right thing to do in this case, and in any other situations like this, would be to first, check for infection with a microscope, and if it is positive, then humanely euthanize the monarch in the freezer. Think of this as "saving" any future monarchs from this infection, and, saving that initial monarch with the broken wing from dying a slow death because it couldn't get around to feed itself. In fact, even if it were not infected, I probably would have euthanized it myself, for reasons explained below.
In case any readers here are new to this OE thing, also keep this in mind - the latest research we have on this parasite shows that the prevalence has increased dramatically over the last 2 decades, and, this jump in prevalence coincides with when the save-the-monarchs movement began. And, we also know that this jump in prevalence is responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of monarchs that die while trying to migrate to Mexico. Think of it as like trying to run a marathon if you have a cold - you're not likely to finish the race. So this really is a big deal.
As you can see, all of this information is really, really important, but, the people conducting these operations don't seem to have a clue about it, or at least they didn't bother to consult with anyone who has expertise.
Now, let me also mention one other thing that is wrong with these wing-fixing situations. Even IF the monarchs in question were not infected, they still were too weak to maintain their grip while waiting for their wings to dry. Thus, they fell, and then damaged their wing. If this had happened in the wild and no one had been around to see this happen, what would have become of that butterfly? It would have simply perished on its own, from not being able to fly. Or, it would have succumbed to some lucky predator, who got an easy meal. In fact, this is what is SUPPOSED to happen in nature - only the strong survive. Monarchs, like all insects, have been doing this for eons, and it is what has allowed the monarchs in North America to evolve to be much bigger than all other populations around the world, and, to have this amazing, long-distance migration, which is a feat of incredible strength and endurance.
One of the reasons I bring this part up, is because we are seeing another growing problem in the North American migration right now, where there seems to be more and more "migratory dropouts" each fall, to the point where fewer and fewer monarchs are making it safely to their winter destinations. Either the monarchs are increasingly being killed by something during their fall migrations, or, the population is gradually becoming weaker over time, and losing their vigor or stamina. This is why I'm harping on the strength thing. The fall migration is something that only the biggest and strongest monarchs can accomplish, so the last thing we need right now is more weak monarchs in the population.
Finally, let me end this rant with some thoughts on the implications of these videos, and, of all of the press they get. To me, the reason these videos get so much attention is because they play to people's emotions, and, the desire that so many people have to "help the monarchs." These two things, when combined, can be dangerous, especially without any actual expertise involved. Think of all of the other situations where these two things have created more problems - like when people rear hundreds of monarchs in captivity, to "save their backyard caterpillars." This practice also leads to weaker monarchs, and more OE spread. How about when people take it upon themselves to ship late-emerging monarchs in the mail to southern states, to "give them a chance." There are other situations too, but you can see the recurring theme here - it's people making decisions based only on emotions and their "gut," and with no thought given to doing any serious reading, or consulting any real expert beforehand. I've written prior blogs about the issue of people taking matters into their own hands (here), and, of the decline in expertise in the world of monarchs (link).
If these videos only had a small viewership, this situation wouldn't be as bad, but thanks to all of the journalists clamoring to write these fluff pieces about the videos, the problems become magnified. And, the online articles written seem to reinforce the notion that any saved monarch is a good thing, which then inspires others to do the same.
Please stop fixing monarch wings, and please educate yourselves on the science. And if any journalists are reading this, please stop promoting these videos.
That's all for now. Please share this to whoever needs to see it.
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