Tuesday, March 06, 2007

The Butterfly Farm Bonaire Set to Open on Thursday, March 8, 2007

This Thursday, March 8, the Bonaire Butterfly Farm will open its doors to the public, showing its visitors the most colorful species of butterflies from South and Central America through a 400-square-meter walk-through exhibit.

The Butterfly Farm Bonaire is easy to find--simply follow the road to Lac Cai ( Kaminda Lac) and follow the farm’s road-side signs.  The exhibit is open Monday through Saturday from 9:00 AM through 5:00 PM.  Entrance fee is $12.00 per person for adults, and $8.00 per person for children up to 12 years old.  Group rates are available upon request.

The butterflies that are displayed are helping to preserve the hemisphere’s rain forests, as they are supplied by special rain forest preservation projects in Costa Rica. These organizations have found an effective way to preserve the rain forest by making agreements with farmers:  the farmers are to leave a portion of the rain forest intact, and, in exchange, they are to breed butterflies.  The organization then sells the butterfly pupae and guarantees the farmers a regular income.  Part of the profit goes toward education and reforestation.

In the near future the Butterfly Farm we will begin a butterfly preservation project. Bonaire boasts of 80 different species of butterflies.  Unfortunately, due to the importation of non-Bonairean trees and plants, the original host plants of Bonaire are disappearing.  It’s one of the farm’s goals to establish a garden containing host plants for Bonaire butterflies.  This endeavor will be completed in cooperation with “Vlinderstichting Nederland” and several local organizations. (Source:  Butterfly Farm Bonaire)