I don't have any pictures of monarchs here. We saw maybe 5, mostly clustered on one lone pride of Madeira bloom. We were told by the ever-active volunteer Tama O. that the majority of monarchs don't actually arrive until mid-November. Many tourists are a bit disappointed to see so few monarchs now, even though most everything about the Sanctuary states the butterflies start arriving by October. A lot has changed in the park since we last visited.
The pride and joy of Pacific Grove has been surrounded by death and controversy. Back in 2004, an elderly tourist was killed here by a tree that broke during a wind storm, hence the sign. My question is why would anyone go out looking for butterflies during a storm? The City settled a wrongful death lawsuit for $1 million. Since then, the City has done extensive tree removal and pruning, which raised the hackles of some monarch enthusiasts. Through private donations and some City funds, new trees were purchased and improvements made to this small 2.4 acre park. For more information about the Monarch Grove Sanctuary, check out the Pacific Grove Monarch Conservancy.
The pride and joy of Pacific Grove has been surrounded by death and controversy. Back in 2004, an elderly tourist was killed here by a tree that broke during a wind storm, hence the sign. My question is why would anyone go out looking for butterflies during a storm? The City settled a wrongful death lawsuit for $1 million. Since then, the City has done extensive tree removal and pruning, which raised the hackles of some monarch enthusiasts. Through private donations and some City funds, new trees were purchased and improvements made to this small 2.4 acre park. For more information about the Monarch Grove Sanctuary, check out the Pacific Grove Monarch Conservancy.
2 comments:
Butterflies? Storm? Oh, one of those chaos butterflies! Folk are just plain weird, aren't they?
Butterfly effect, indeed. Seriously, how many people die looking for butterflies? It was an act of God. The sign, while not funny for the reasons why it was put up, is kind of funny on its own - Warning: Natural Area.
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