Monarchs make their way to Mexico

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - Kids from Meadows Elementary School released butterflies at Bethany’s Garden on Wednesday.

In groups of three, the kids released the butterflies that they have been taking care of since they were young caterpillars.

Monarch butterflies are a challenged species and need help with migration.

The kids were able to aid in their journey by taking them in and caring for them throughout their metamorphosis.

Curate for Creation for Bethany House and Gardens, Caroline Howard, said it was great to see the kids so engaged.

“It’s to help protect this population and because they are such important pollinators, they’re impact is huge,” said Howard. “They pollinate all kinds of food crops and flowers — a lot of wild flowers. So, the impact on the biodiversity along that migration route is really important and we just want to help protect that.”

Speech Language Pathologist, Nicole Montague, said that it is important that all of the kids had the opportunity to participate in the project.

“I believe that all kids should be exposed to all learning experiences. Even though it might be trickier to bring some kiddos on a field trip, we like to bring all of our friends so that they can see everything that their peers get to see as well,” states Montague. “We are probably going to be talking about butterflies all year long and that’s just going to be another learning opportunity to learn some new vocabulary words, some new concepts, and just be exposed to this amazing and cool project that we’ve done.”

After tagging the butterflies and identifying their sex, it was time for the kids to release them.

“I’m really just excited, I think, to know that they had a hand in this really incredible process that spans thousands of miles in multiple countries and they’ve helped that,” said Howard.

The butterflies are expected to be in Mexico by the winter.

Copyright 2023 WIBW. All rights reserved.