Taiwan Offers 'Freeway' for Butterflies

[Judi Lynn]

Mar 24, 6:16 AM EDT
Taiwan Offers 'Freeway' for Butterflies

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -- Taiwan will cordon off part of a highway to create a safe passage for a massive seasonal butterfly migration in the coming days, an official said Saturday.

The milkweed butterflies - which are indigenous to the island off China and have distinct white dots on purple brown wings - migrate in late March from southern Taiwan to the north, where they lay eggs and die.

The young butterflies then fly south every November to a warm mountain valley near the southern city of Kaohsiung to escape the winter cold in the north.

Conservationists say Taiwan has about 2 million milkweed butterflies.

To protect the migrating butterflies, a 600-yard stretch of highway in southern Taiwan's Yunlin County will be sealed off in the coming days as the migration peaks, said Lee Tai-ming, head of the National Freeway Bureau.
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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TAIWAN_BUTTERFLY_MIGRATION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-03-24-06-16-10

[saltpoint]

1. Sensible and compassionate. I'm for it.