HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2016-08-31, Page 1010 News Record • Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Clinton man finds hobby in raising butterflies
Shaun Gregory
Postmedia Network
Ruler, sovereign and
emperor are all synonyms
for the word monarch. They
go hand-in-hand with one of
the most majestic flying
insects, and Mike Ward from
Clinton has raised numerous
ones from caterpillars.
Ward occasionally rum-
mages the outdoors for cater-
pillars, but more often than
not he ends up with eggs.
From there, like a concerned
father, he helps the life forms
grow until they can be set free.
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Without the help of Ward
and others around the
world, the species might not
make it much longer since
they are in risk of extinction,
according to the World Wild-
life Fund.
According to Ward, Mon-
archs have about a one per
cent chance of survival in the
wild compared to an 80 per
cent chance of being raised
by someone like Ward.
The butterfly's life usually
starts in Canada or the U.S.
and they must migrate dis-
tances of more than 5000 km
at a speed of 10-20 mph.
They travel this distance with
the intentions of reaching
Mexico or even further.
"They have to go all that
way and they must try to sur-
vive from spiders, weather
and people logging the trees
down in Mexico," stated
Ward who is 33 -years -old.
Ward mentioned the
numbers skyrocketed to
three times last February
from the year before. How-
ever, a recent snowstorm in
Mexico killed half that
population.
On August 12 at Victoria
Park in Seaforth, Ward did
his best to increase the Mon-
arch's chance of a continued
existence by freeing six
females. To date, since he
started this year, Ward is
responsible for the release of
11 Monarchs.
The process is quite
complex. After finding the
eggs, he transfers them into
a Tupperware container.
From there they grow while
feeding on milkweed which
is the key ingredient for the
butterfly's survival.
After they crystallite in a
J-shape because, a term
some people confuse as
cocooning, which comes
from moths, he then moves
them to a mesh enclosure.
To inform the community
of his devotion, in his front
yard he has erected a 9" x 12"
weatherproof sign that is
posted in the ground inform-
ing the public his house is
part of the Monarch Waysta-
tion Program.
"Basically my yard has all
AMO conference talk
CONTINUED FROM > PAGE 9
Of course, though these
are interesting ideas for our
town, they are by no means a
sure thing.
"These are things you'd
have your staff look into,"
said Ginn. "Some
presentations only tell you
the good parts of the ideas
and they don't tell you the
draw backs, so you need
more research:'
Another relevant topic
Ginn was interested in at
the conference was waste
management, since the Mid
RETIREMENT AND
WELCOME RECEPTION
The Clinton Family Health Team
Clinton Physicians
Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance
Clinton Public Hospital Foundation
The Community of Central Huron
Help us say thank you to Dr. Maarten Bokhout
And welcome to Dr. Kyle Armstrong
Join us at the reception on
September 13, 2016 5:00 - 7:00 pm
Central Huron Community Complex
Libro Community Hall
1.41:11! U ikiE
rrsmEint
N.11 44.i ..Z.341. PIE
Huron Landfill Site in Hol-
mesville will be closing. The
success of recycling is one
reason why this site will
stop operating. Central
Huron is considering put-
ting a waste transfer station
in that spot.
One of Ginn's favourite
presentations was from
Nanos Research on polls
taken in southwestern
Ontario because they are
helpful for giving a sense of
what the general population
values.
One big concern that the
Nanos research found about
municipalities was aging
infrastructure. They found
that municipalities own 60%
of the infrastructure in
the needs for Monarch But-
terflies," he said.
Currently Ward is raising
Swallowtail butterfly eggs and
said he hopes to continue this
passion for years to come.
He will carry this on by
spreading the word of his
newfound hobby.
"Next year shall be a busy
one. I will be planting many
more host plants for differ-
ent butterflies including
more milkweeds for the
monarchs. Anyone with
questions or wanting to start
raising any butterflies, I'm
willing to help, although
understand I am still very
new to this myself;" stated in
a post from Ward's
Facebook.
Ontario, but receive only 9%
of the funding for it.
Ginn said this is one rea-
son why municipalities
struggle financially. Some
people surveyed suggested a
1% increase in HST that is
solely dedicated to munici-
pal infrastructure.
Since there were several
presentations put on at the
same time, the three Central
Huron council members
attended different sessions
to get the most out of the
conference.
Ginn commented that for
that reason, Councillor Lobb
and Councillor Anderson
may have other points of
interest, but those were
some of his.
�. .r
When: Sunday, September 4
Rain Date: Monday, September 5
Time: Dusk (approx. 8:30pm)
Where: Seaforth Ag Society Grounds
140 Duke St. Seaforth
Donations to the Seaforth Fall Fair
—I1C13.711D."•:d i -=
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