• Controlled Rearing Data

SOMA does not condone the captive breeding of monarch butterflies. However, many SOMA people enjoy assisting our wild western monarch population by taking wild eggs or caterpillars and placing them in a controlled environment away from predators and parasites for a week or two, and releasing them back as adults into the wild. The table below shows the areas and numbers of monarchs that were reared from wild eggs or caterpillars and released back into the wild by SOMA and others in 2015. There are likely many other people who are also participating. This is about 1% of the total number of monarchs counted in 2015 as reported by the Xerces Society… (Xerces Data)
Impressive!