Humane way of putting down a monarch

[Teresa]

evidently one of my cats found the way out of their pen and pulpated underneigth the stand it was on. I didn't know it was there until one morning I found it on the garage floor with badly deformed wings and already dried. This happened to me last year too. I try to watch them all to make sure they have a safe emergence. Just can't be there all the time and then I think "am I doing the right thing?, maybe he would have been ok if i'd let them out in the wild" I just felt so bad. My question is, what is the best way to put down a butterfly, the most humane way? I always put them in the frig for a bit and then move them to the freezer. It's that good?

[Jim]

Fridge and or freezer is just fine - there's really not much you can do for these critters once their wings are dry. It seems that the first 10 minutes or so after emergence are critical...if the monarchs aren't hanging by this time it is likely they will have some degree of wing deformation.

As far as the failed emergence is concerned, you can't be certain that the monarch would be fine if you had been watching it. The fact of the matter is that some monarchs just don't emerge properly (both in the wild and in captivity); this is often associated with disease, parasitism or some genetic anamoly. My only suggestion to you would be to keep the critters corraled and provide a rough surface (horizontally and vertically) like an old towel so that the monarchs can climb up and hang should they fall from the pupal casing during emergence.

Hope this helps!

[Megathymus ursus]

At the risk of sounding like a brute, stepping on the poor thing is probably much faster a death than by freezing.