The Plight of the Monarch

press release:

The rapid decline of monarch butterfly populations in the last decade has caught the attention of nature lovers and scientists across the continent. Cindy and Kirby Pringle’s documentary The Plight of the Monarch examines the life cycle of the monarch and how we can work to conserve this species. Join the filmmakers for an informative presentation and screening of the documentary.

“We really noticed a decline in their numbers starting seven years ago,” says fine art photographer Kirby Pringle of Tuscola, Ill., located 25 miles south of Champaign-Urbana. “We have friends in Canada and other parts of the United States and they were all saying the same thing — no one was seeing monarchs, certainly not in the numbers they’ve been seen in the past. The plunge in population has been alarming.”

To raise awareness of the rapidly declining monarch butterfly population, Kirby and his wife, Cindy, also a fine art photographer, made a 22-minute documentary, “Plight of the Monarch.” The documentary looks at the causes behind the rapidly declining population of the monarch, the lifecycle of the butterfly and what people can do to help increase the number of monarchs. The husband-and-wife team will also talk about how they became interested in monarch butterflies and why they decided to make the film, which has been shown on the PBS affiliate WEIU-TV in Charleston, Ill.

The loss of milkweed throughout the Midwest is the major reason behind the population decline of the monarch, according to Kirby. “Milkweed is the only plant on which the monarch butterfly lays its eggs and the only plant the caterpillar eats. If milkweed disappears, so will the monarch butterfly,” he adds.

“We did the filming in 2012, with all the camerawork taking place in Central Illinois. We put the finishing touches on it in early 2013,” Kirby says. “The documentary is more timely than ever. The overwintering population of monarch butterflies in Mexico continues to be very small. But we're both hopeful that this trend can be reversed. The population was larger than expected this last summer.”

The Pringles also raise monarch caterpillars and release the adult butterflies to help increase the population. They started their efforts 15 years ago and for the last four years have had a “Butterfly Nursery” that is open to the public in the same building where their photo studio is located in Tuscola, Illinois. The couple raised and released 442 monarch butterflies from May to October 2014 — a record number for them.

They will also have copies of their newest book available for purchase, “The Butterfly That Would Not Fly.” In the book, Pearl Barker finds a monarch butterfly that’s afraid of heights. Pearl and her husband, Earl, try to help the butterfly overcome its fear so that it can migrate to Mexico and join millions of other overwintering monarchs. The documentary film was an outgrowth of the work on the book. “Hopefully things like our documentary film and book will help people realize what’s going on and the steps that we all have to take in order to save monarch butterflies for future generations,” Cindy Pringle says.

Please go to www.dogtownartworks.com for more information about the Pringles.

Visit madisonaudubon.org for more information