Urgent plea from Stratford Butterfly Farm to help save the tropical butterfly farmers

The Stratford Butterfly Farm has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help raise funds for the tropical butterfly farmers that they work with. Most of the butterflies found at the Butterfly Farm, of which there are over 250 different species and around 2,000 individual butterflies, are imported from butterfly farmers in the tropics. Stratford Butterfly Farm buys their butterflies from either community projects or village projects which provide the local people with a sustainable income and helps to preserve the rainforest. These projects do not benefit from any government support and may not survive the economic impact of COVID-19.

Due to the disruption of COVID-19 the tropical butterfly farmers and breeders have been left unable to earn a living since the exports were suspended in early March. These small community projects are in danger of collapsing and being lost forever. There are already reports coming out of the Arabuko Sokoke forest area of Kenya that the rainforest is being invaded for firewood and timber which poses a serious threat to the local ecosystems.

Jane Kendrick, Marketing Manager at Stratford Butterfly Farm said "It is vital that these projects are supported through these trying and unprecedented times which is why we have set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise awareness and funds for the butterfly breeders. We hope to raise over £2,000 so any donation, no matter how small, would help protect these important projects and ensure they survive for generations to come."

The projects that the Stratford Butterfly Farm works with include:
Bioproductores de El Salvador in El Salvador http://www.butterfliesofelsalvador.com/main_about.html
El Bosque Nuevo in Costa Rica https://www.elbosquenuevo.org/
The Kipepeo Project in Kenya - http://kipepeo.org/
The Amani Butterfly Project in Tanzania http://africanrainforest.org/portfolio-items/the-amani-butterfly-project/
Heliconius Butterfly Works in Ecuador -http://heliconiusworks.com/new_Page/pages/home.html
Alas de Columbia in Columbia - http://Www.alasdecolombia.com

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