Viral video shows monarch butterfly get a wing transplant. Here’s how a nature center did it.
By John Dias
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SMITHTOWN, New York (WCBS) — A broken wing almost ended a monarch butterfly’s journey on Long Island, but a caring hand, and a clever idea, gave it a second chance to fly again.
At the Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown, experts know what it takes to keep even the smallest lives in flight, especially those with the toughest odds.
Janine Bendicksen, the center’s director of wildlife rehabilitation, described one of her most recent patients, which was brought in by Deer Park resident Dagmar Hoffdavis.
“He was unable to flap it, or fly,” Bendicksen said.
“Butterfly, they say, is good luck from the other side, and so it’s a spiritual thing for me,” Hoffdavis said.
Bendicksen had a bold idea to transplant a wing from a dead butterfly inside her vivarium to the injured one.
“I scoured the floor for a dead butterfly and I found a monarch. The wing was in perfect shape,” Bendicksen said.
She then got right to work, recording the five-minute procedure, which, after being posted to the center’s social media page, went viral, with millions of views.
“It was so intricate, because this butterfly could fall apart if I pressed too hard,” Bendicksen said. “We used contact cement, we had corn starch, a little piece of wire that we could hold the butterfly down with.”
She said the butterfly was unharmed the entire time.
“They have no nerve receptors, no blood flow going into the end portion of the wing,” Bendicksen said.
A delicate touch gave the monarch a new set of wings, and a new lease on life. Bendicksen said it was the first time she tried this type of procedure like this, and now she’s inspiring other professionals across the world.
“I’m getting calls from Minnesota, Costa Rica, California,” she said. “This butterfly would have died if we didn’t try. We need hope in this world today.”
For the staff at Sweet Briar, it was not just about saving one insect. It was about starting a movement. Experts say monarch butterflies have near-endangered status.
“Every animal has its place in the world, especially this one, that has such a big journey ahead of it,” said Veronica Sayers, the vivarium’s director.
With one borrowed wing, the monarch is now migrating toward Mexico — a small life, given a second change.
Experts say to leave a procedure like this to the professionals.
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