MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Barb Agnew ruffled the thin
netting hanging in her flower shop, causing a monarch butterfly to descend far
enough for her to gently clasp it. She then released it outside where it flitted
about a hanging plant before disappearing in the gray sky, leaving her beaming
like a proud mother.
About two weeks earlier, the butterfly was either a pinhead-sized egg or a
caterpillar that Agnew rescued from the nearby Milwaukee County Grounds.
Bulldozers are clearing the grounds to create a flood basin for excess rain
water. The machinery removes assorted vegetation, including the milkweed plants,
on which monarchs lay eggs and upon which their caterpillars feed.
As work progresses, Agnew races to collect as many of the movement-challenged
insects as she can. She brings them to Wildflower Floral, the flower shop she
co-owns in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa.
''I'd be doing this anyway just because these creatures are so beautiful,'' said
Agnew, 44. ''But with the destruction, there's a greater sense of urgency. I
couldn't bear to see them be killed.''
Agnew estimates that she'll rescue about 1,000 monarchs this year. She has
collected butterflies for about 20 years.
Agnew walks the county grounds almost every night. She spots the tiny monarch
eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves, and brings them to an enclosure in the
back of her store.
The eggs hatch into caterpillars, which gorge on milkweed leaves for about two
weeks before forming a chrysalis, the cocoon-like structure in which their
metamorphosis occurs.
Agnew generally transfers the chrysalises to the front of the store, using a
glue gun to affix them to a gnarled tree. Nearly 100 of them hang like jade
ornaments, each with a raised strip of tiny golden beads near the top.
''Over the years I've watched butterflies emerge countless times, and each time
I never cease to be amazed,'' she said.
Judi Fancher, a floral designer at Wildflower, said Agnew's enthusiasm is
infectious.
''Kids will come in and she'll have them hold (freshly emerged butterflies) to
give them a moment of making it real,'' she said. ''They leave with such an
appreciation for them.''
Agnew said she hopes that exposing more people to the wonder of nature will
generate more opposition to the removal of habitats.
Jeffrey Glassberg, the president of the North American Butterfly Association
based in Morristown, N.J., said Agnew's attempts to save butterflies are
well-intentioned but ultimately futile.
''She may be saving these, but that won't have any effect on population next
year,'' he said. ''It'd be better to get people to plant milkweed and give
monarchs a place to feed.''
Agnew said she won't stop. She said she hopes to teach others about nature's
beauty.
''We need wondrous things in life to be happy. It can't always be about work and
money,'' she said. ''We need mystery, we need wonder. There's got to be more.''