Pretty as the stock is, this miniature ranching is not without controversy. Hey, this is American, after all.
“Larry Gilbert, director of the University of Texas Brackenridge Field Laboratory in Austin, says he worries about butterfly releases interfering with scientific research.
“’We study the genetics and biology of wild species and assume that what we sample in nature legitimately reflects interactions between that species and its environment,’ he explains. ‘If people bring butterflies in from wherever and let them go, [those butterflies] aren’t local and scientists can’t make assumptions about the wild population anymore.’
There’re also butterfly diseases. Yep. Not quite hoof-n-mouth, but close.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 