FORT WORTH, Texas, March 19 (UPI) -- Monarch butterflies devastated by winter storms in Mexico are returning to the United States and Canada in record low numbers this spring, scientists said.
The loss from storms in the Mexican state of Michoacan is estimated at 50 to 60 percent of the usual monarch population that migrates north this time of year, said Chip Taylor, head of Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas.
"We've never seen it this bad before," Taylor told the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram in a story published Friday.
Monarch Watch is encouraging gardeners, farmers and road crews to plant milkweed, which the butterflies feast on in the fall as they fly back to Mexico, said Gail Manning, an entomologist with the Fort Worth Botanic Garden.
It will take at least several years for the monarch population to recover, which makes it all the more critical for people to begin planting milkweed now, entomologists said.
