According to Jessica Speart, illegal trafficking of
butterflies generates $200 million each year (Living on Earth 2011).
Speart is the author of Winged, a book about the take down of a
butterfly kingpin. If you haven’t heard,
Yoshi Kojima, was the kingpin of the butterfly black market trade. In 2007, Kojima was arrested and served a 21
month sentence in a Californian state prison for illegal trafficking of butterflies. Kojima,
a Japanese national, exploited butterflies all over the world. He started capturing butterflies after
college in US national parks. He would
capture legal US butterflies and decimate their populations. The Apache Fritillary, Speyeria nokomis apacheana, is
just one species he targeted. The Apache
Firtillary is one of California’s largest butterflies and resides on a restricted
range in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Speart
states Kojima apparently caught 500 individuals in 2 days, and shipped them to
Japan to sell (Living on Earth 2011). Check out this news video
on the takedown of Kojima https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jt87Sthvb4
One of the major target’s in the international
butterfly black market is the Queen Alexandra’s birdwing butterfly, Ornithoptera alexandrae. This species is the
world’s largest butterfly, having a 1 ft wingspan. Kojima sold many Queen Alexandra’s birdwing butterflies. Speart states that a pair can go for $10,000 (Living on Earth 2011). Speart further states that it is not unusual
for certain butterflies to go for $60,000 (Living on Earth 2011).
You may ask, who pays for these butterflies? Crazy
collectors that’s who.
Edwardian naturalist Albert Meek started the
collection obsession of Queen Alexandra’s birdwing butterflies. Meek first recorded collecting the species in
1906, while on an expedition in Papua New Guinea.
The Queen Alexandra only resides in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Meek resorted to shooting the butterflies
with a shotgun due to their fast flight.
Queen Alexandra’s birdwing butterflies have substantial sexual
dimorphism, thus it took a while to differentiate males and females as the same
species.
Queen Alexandra’s birdwings’ eggs are laid on the
leaves of Aristolochia spp., which is
a poisonous pine vine. The caterpillars then
eat the leaves with the toxins, and grow into toxic butterflies.
Habitat loss is a major issue with Queen Alexandra’s
birdwing butterfly. The species has lost
much of its range across the Oro Province, PNG. Logging,
oil palm expansion, coffee, and cocoa are the main drivers of habitat loss. (Stratton 2012)
Eddie Malasia, a wildlife officer in the Oro
Province, states that weakening regulations to protect the butterfly might be the
species best hope for increasing in population size (Stratton 2012). Queen Alexandra’s birdwing butterfly is currently
classified as an Appendix 1 species under the Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species (CITES). CITES
prohibits trade to overseas collectors. There is no legal trade with Queen Alexandra’s birdwing butterfly, thus
the black market fuels the demand. Malasia
thinks downgrading the species to an appendix 2 will allow a controlled limited
trade of the species (Stratton 2012). This controlled
trade will influence subsistence farmers to protect the butterfly’s habitat,
allowing them to sell a set number of specimens (Stratton 2012).
Malaisa states, ‘What is worse? Legally trading a
few butterflies or removing Queen Alexandra’s habitat forever.’ (Stratton 2012)
Photographs:
1. (O'Neil 2007)
2. (O'Neil 2007)
3.(The Guardian 2012)
4. (Living on Earth 2011)
Citations:
O’Neill. H. U.S. finally nets global butterfly
smuggler. 2007 Aug 20 [cited 2014 Nov 17].
NBC News. Available from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/20283195/ns/world_news-world_environment/t/us-finally-nets-global-butterfly-smuggler/#.VGpFlvnF_eI
Stratton, M.
World’s largest butterfly disappearing from Papua New Guinea
rainforests. [Internet]. 2012 Jul 30 [cited 2014 Nov 17]. The Guardian.
Available from http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2012/jul/30/queen-alexandras-birdwing-butterfly
Tracking the Worlds’ Most Notorious Butterfly
Smuggler. 2011 Apr 15 [cited 2014 Nov 17].
Living on Earth. Available from http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=11-P13-00015&segmentID=6
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