Beautiful Orange and Black Monarch Butterflies Now Endangered

If you have not seen as many monarch butterflies as you used to, it's because there are not as many as there used to be and now they've been added to the endangered list.

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Monarch Butterfly

Let's face it, we all are very busy and sometimes that keeps us from enjoying some of the simple things in life like enjoying the beauty of a monarch butterfly.

My son and I spend an enormous amount of time outdoors and about a month ago my son said how come I never see monarch butterflies that much anymore. He said we used to see them all the time when we were in Indiana. At the time I didn't put much thought into it.

The last time I saw a monarch butterfly, unfortunately, it was stuck in the grill of my truck and didn't make it.

Monarch Butterflies Now Endangered

Ever since I was a kid growing up on the eastern side of Michigan, one of nature's beauties has always been the monarch butterfly. I used to see these all the time and was just amazed at their colors compared to all other butterflies. As a kid, my friend and I would catch them, admire them and then turn them loose to see another day.

It turns out the reason my son and I have not been seeing that many monarch butterflies are because they are just not that many of them anymore. According to FOX 17 scientists have put monarch butterflies on the endangered list.

The number of monarch butterflies has drastically reduced over the past 10 years and although they are technically not on the United States endangered list they are considered endangered and are on the red list which is still just two steps from being extinct.

Pesticides and herbicides on farms and landscaping have definitely done damage to monarchs not to mention the climate is changing and that along with the loss of habitat have all been contributing factors to their decline.

How To Help Monarch Butterflies

The best way to help monarch butterflies is not to kill them. Another way to help is to plant milkweed.

Milkweed is essential to monarch caterpillars' survival. Maybe try more organic treatments for bugs on your landscaping.

Monarch butterflies are the most recognizable butterfly worldwide and I would hate to not be able to see them anymore in Michigan. Summer just wouldn't be the same not being able to see a monarch butterfly.