Campaigner ends 3,000-mile flight to save butterfly

A conservationist trying to draw attention to the fragility of the Monarch butterflies’ winter habitats in Mexico ended a 3,000-mile flight along the insects’ migration route today.

Vico Gutierrez landed his ultra-light aircraft, called Papalotzin, in Angangueo, in the central Mexican state of Michoacan.

It is one of many endangered forested areas west of Mexico City that serve as a safe haven for thousands of butterflies that migrate each year from Canada.

Papalotzin, from the ancient Nahuatl language of the Aztecs, roughly translates to “small butterfly”.

The aircraft’s wings were painted to resemble the black-and-orange Monarch.

Gutierrez, backed by the World Wildlife Fund, the state of Michoacan and Mexican mobile-phone company Telcel, made the trip to raise awareness about the need to conserve the Monarchs’ fragile habitats.

Illegal logging is thinning and toppling the fir forests that protect the butterflies from rain and cold.

He and his team are planning to produce a film of his epic ‘migration’.

“During the trip we shared with millions of people the importance of conserving the Monarch butterfly and its habitat,” Gutierrez said.

“To understand its migration and metamorphosis, its journey from egg to larva to a butterfly that can fly 4,500 kilometres, provides a message for all umanity: the possibility of changing and overcoming the various challenges that arise in life.”