What is wrong with releasing butterflies at weddings and other events?
This well-meaning but misguided practice spreads diseases to natural populations, inappropriately mixes genetically distinct populations of the same species, may disrupt migratory behavior of native butterflies, confuses scientific studies of butterfly migrations, and usually results in the untimely death of the butterflies released. Please see Butterflies at Weddings for more about this subject. I bought my child a Painted Lady kit, now the butterfly has emerged but it is still freezing outside. What should I do? The best thing to do at this point is to keep the butterfly inside in a small enclosure. Try feeding it from a sponge impregnated with sugar-water. But, the important thing to remember for the future is not to buy butterflies. Releasing commercially-raised butterflies into the environment is an act of anti-environmental terror (see above), while keeping the wild butterfly in your home is not a satisfying experience for most people (not to mention the butterfly). Far better to
