{"id":165689,"date":"2020-12-23T14:20:05","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T13:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/?p=165689"},"modified":"2021-11-20T19:35:29","modified_gmt":"2021-11-20T18:35:29","slug":"petition-western-monarch-butterflies-near-extinction-with-less-than-2000-reported-in-this-years-thanksgiving-count","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/petition-western-monarch-butterflies-near-extinction-with-less-than-2000-reported-in-this-years-thanksgiving-count\/","title":{"rendered":"Petition: Western Monarch Butterflies Near Extinction With Less than 2000 Reported in this Year\u2019s Thanksgiving Count"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The state of our planet\u2019s pollinators took a big blow in 2020. The annual Thanksgiving count of Western Monarch butterflies this year by the Xerces Society yielded less than 2000 individuals, a tragic threshold that has experts worried about the future of the species.<\/p>\n<p>In the 1980s, as many as 3 to 10 million Monarch butterflies overwintered in either Mexico or California. Two years ago, experts were concerned when the number of butterflies had dropped to 27,212, less than 1% of their lowest-estimated historical population. A decline in numbers this year was expected to occur as well, but it was not expected to be as drastic as it was.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2-06WRigKiw\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Cheryl Schultz, an entomologist at Washington State University spoke to Bay Nature about the drastic drop in population.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were expecting it to come in low, but not that low,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I had to make a guess three months ago, I think we would all have been talking about less than 10,000. But coming in at less than 3,000. That\u2019s \u2026 unexpected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In particular, migrating populations of the North American Monarch butterfly are hurt by the decline in habitat. As more biodiversity is paved over for the sake of urban development, the North American Monarch is losing more of its habitat, including its overwintering spots in Mexico and California.<\/p>\n<p>Sarina Jepsen of the Xerces Society says that there is a lack of protective status for butterfly habitat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re still losing overwintering sites every year, including this year,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re getting cut down, they lack protection completely, or the limited protection they have there\u2019s a lack of awareness about.\u201d<br \/>\nThere are things you can do to help protect the butterfly population. Even as landowners, governments, and companies pave over butterfly habitat, you can work to create more. Just by planting milkweed in your garden or on your balcony, you can provide butterflies a habitat and place to rest on their migrations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMilkweed is the only plant that monarch butterflies lay their eggs on and is the primary source of food for monarch caterpillars,\u201d said Jode Roberts from the David Suzuki Foundation. \u201cScientists have identified milkweed planting as the most important action people can take to help support threatened monarch populations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onegreenplanet.org\/environment\/western-monarch-butterflies-near-extinction-with-less-than-2000-reported-in-this-years-thanksgiving-count\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">article<\/a> was first published by OneGreenPlanet on 8 December 2020. Lead Image Source: CHAINFOTO24\/Shutterstock<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>What you can do<\/h2>\n<p>Support \u2018Fighting for Wildlife\u2019 by donating as little as $1 &#8211; It only takes a minute. Thank you.<\/p>\n<div><script src=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/install-popup-button.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\" defer><\/script><br \/>\n<a class=\"dbox-donation-button\" style=\"background: #ededed; color: #333; text-decoration: none; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; display: inline-block; font-size: 13px; padding: 8px 10px 8px 10px; -webkit-border-radius: 2px; -moz-border-radius: 2px; border-radius: 4px; box-shadow: 0 1px 0 0 #a5a5a5;\" href=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/focusing-on-wildlife-needs-your-support?amount=5&amp;hide_donation_meter=true&amp;default_interval=m\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">DONATE NOW<\/a><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" fifu-lazy=\"1\" fifu-data-sizes=\"auto\" fifu-data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=75&amp;resize=75&amp;ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=100&amp;resize=100&amp;ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=150&amp;resize=150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=240&amp;resize=240&amp;ssl=1 240w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=320&amp;resize=320&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=500&amp;resize=500&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=640&amp;resize=640&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=800&amp;resize=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=1024&amp;resize=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=1280&amp;resize=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=1600&amp;resize=1600&amp;ssl=1 1600w\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-161632\" fifu-data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"28\" title=\"\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both;\"><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<div><em>Fighting for Wildlife supports <a href=\"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wildlife-charities-supported-by-focusing-on-wildlife\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">approved wildlife conservation organizations,<\/a> which spend at least 80 percent of the money they raise on actual fieldwork, rather than administration and fundraising. When making a donation you can designate for which type of initiative it should be used &#8211; wildlife, oceans, forests or climate.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The state of our planet\u2019s pollinators took a big blow in 2020. The annual Thanksgiving count of Western Monarch butterflies this year by the Xerces Society yielded less than 2000 individuals, a tragic threshold that has experts worried about the future of the species. In the 1980s, as many as 3 to 10 million Monarch [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":166652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3681,5],"tags":[1586,61,1699,181],"class_list":["post-165689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-petitions","category-wildlife","tag-biodiversity","tag-butterflies","tag-caterpillars","tag-monarch-butterfly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}