Press Release

Butterfly Releases

Releasing live butterflies is the latest fashion at weddings, memorial services, grand openings and other ceremonious occasions. Some forty to sixty butterfly farms or ranches have sprung up across the continent to serve the industry in the last three years.

At Whispering Wings we will work with you to create just the right touch in butterfly accents. Some Brides want each guest to join in the festivities by releasing a butterfly, while others prefer to have a coordinated gift box opened to issue a cloud of flying color above the wedding party. All butterflies displayed and released by Whispering Wings have been farm raised.
Monarch
Graveside Releases

Of a more somber nature are graveside releases. As final prayers are being spoken, it is a nondenominational comfort to release a butterfly as guardian of the soul. Silence generally accompanies the symbolic casting to the wind of a single butterfly as it wings upward and away, out of sight. Sometimes clients want a butterfly for each child or grandchild to release in memory or tribute.

Butterfly Raising Kits

Individual raise and release kits as well as classroom kits are also available from Whispering Wings, complete with instructions and informational packets.

The Butterfly Lifecycle

Weather conditions and predators permitting, butterflies enjoy a lifespan of from two to four weeks. Their life's mission is to mate, locate their host plant and lay eggs. Offspring hatch in a few days time to continue the cycle. At each of the four stages, egg larvae, pupae and adult, the butterfly is subject to predation by birds, mice or other insects. Butterflies survive the winter as butterflies in hibernation, by migration, in chrysalis or as eggs.
Monarch

Monarch butterflies produce two to four broods per summer. The eggs laid in August become the butterflies that migrate South to overwintering areas in Mexico. The lifespan of the migrating butterflies is about eight months. They are able to live longer to complete their migration and begin the journey back North again in the Spring because the shorter daylight hours and cooler temperatures of September prevent them from reaching sexual maturity. Farmed butterflies kept at cooler temperatures will also live longer than butterflies form the wild. It takes approximately five weeks to raise a butterfly from egg to adult.

We Care for our Butterflies

At Whispering Wings we spend hours a day feeding caterpillars and cleaning their cages. Once emerged, adult butterflies must also be fed, exercised and misted daily, until shipped to waiting customers. Butterflies for release are either hand delivered or shipped by overnight delivery.

Butterfly Releases and the Environment

"Have you seen enough butterflies this summer" Everywhere you look, habitat is being bulldozed for residential or commercial development. The increased use of pesticides and landscape chemicals further erodes the supply of food plants required for larval growth and survival. Releasing home and commercially raised butterflies creates an opportunity to tip the scales back in favor of the butterflies. We are driven by our love of butterflies and our wish to improve their threatened and dwindling populations by growing food plants and raising butterflies in a protected environment.

What do butterflies do for the environment? They are essential to the pollination of many plants and hold a link on the food chain. Additionally, they go a long way toward embellishing the landscape.

The IBBA

The International Butterfly Breeders Association supports the position of butterfly farmers and endorses releases. Please refer to the IBBA web site for extensive evidence in support of butterfly releases, and to read our position paper and code of ethics.