Lost one ......

I'm forgoing Mono Monday today to bring you the sad realities of raising Monarch butterflies. 

The butterfly in my picture emerged yesterday (monarch #21) but when we went to release him we could see that his wing was malformed.  We put him back into the enclosure so that we could watch him and see if the wing would unfold properly.

Sadly this didn't happen.  This morning I brought him back out and placed him on the zinnias so that he could get some sun. He tried flying a few times but didn't get far.  It was then that I had to make the awful decision to euthanize him .... it was for the best.

This next sentence may sound cruel but it's the quickest way (other than squishing them) to euthanize him .... I put him in a container and put him in the freezer.  According to what I have read butterflies don't feel pain and they are usually dead within a few minutes in the freezer. It's like going to sleep. 

As to why the wings didn't form properly it's anyone's guess.  He could have an OE (Ophryocystis elektroscirrha) parasite but it could have been any number of other reasons.  

I was quite surprised by how upset all this made me.  As I placed him in the container and then in the freezer I was sobbing almost uncontrollably ... and even now as I write this up I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes.  Most of our butterflies we raise from the egg all the way up to emergence and release.  And it really hurts my heart when we lose one. ♥