MEXICO

-- A rare sudden spell
of snow - nearly 12 inches
- in central Mexico, has driven millions of Monarch
butterflies, which have their
winter sojourn in Mexico, to
a cold death. The distinct
orange and black insects fly
every year from their summer haunts in
Canada across the
expanse of US to
spend their winter in
specially built butterfly sanctuaries in
Mexico. The spectacular clumps of orange
and black coating the
fir trees draws many
visitors to the country. In the cold
weather, the butterflies move little, preferring to clump
together in giant
nests of bodies so
heavy that the fir
trees droop under
their weight.

The sad plight of
the monarchs has
raised furious voices
of protest from the
eco-groups of the three
nations and also avid
Monarch watchers. "Butterflies are falling from the
trees," said Homerc, Aridjis,
who heads the Group of 100,
a Mexican environmental
lobbying organisation. The
last count has put the deaths
at a high 20 million or nearly
33 per cent of the Monarch's
winter population. Deforestation in sanctuaries has
damaged breeding grounds,
ruining the cover that
allows them to survive bad
weather, say the ecologists.
It is feared that the large
number of deaths would
mean that there will be
far fewer butterflies populating the US and Canadian
gardens this summer.

The fragile insect is an
important barometer of
environmental degradation
across the three countries.
Monarch populations in the
current years is steadily being
decimated mainly due to
agricultural pesticides that
poison the flowers they feed
on, deforestation of their
mating grounds and also
increasing urbanisation and
pollution.