 Butterflies have always been closely associated with mankind. The ever increase lust for the possession of priceless relics made many people to acquire wild life artifacts to decorate their homes.
Governments of many countries are contineously fighting a war against Poachers, the people who have made hunting wildlife as their profession.
While the death of a tiger or a lion attracts worldwide attention, small winged beauties like butterflies, which are an indespensable pollinator for vital agricultural crops, are becoming extinct unnoticed. Large-scale poaching and international smuggling nexus is threatening many species of butterflies and moths in the world.
International Butterfly trade is a environmentally destructive business. Each year, millions of butterflies and moths are caught in many countries and sold to private collectors in the West, mostly in Germany. group of professional butterfly hunters organize expeditions, sometimes hire local people, and use all possible methods of collecting their target species in large numbers. They use special sources of ultraviolet light, chemical baits, and sometimes cut down large trees to get caterpillars from the forest canopy.
In international market some of the butterflies have an ornamental value and are sold at a very high price. A pair of bird wing butterfly found on Tiger Hill of Jammu and Kashmir is sold at price ranging from $ 2,500 to $ 3,500 in the international market. |
