Image Credit: Copilot
MELAKA, June 7: More than 40 per cent of butterfly species across Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, could vanish within the next half-century without sustained conservation action, warns the Melaka Butterfly and Reptile Sanctuary.
Managing director Gerard Wong stressed that urgent measures — from public awareness campaigns to breeding endangered species — are critical to safeguarding butterflies such as the Clipper, Yellow Birdwing, and Giant Tree Nymph.
Findings from a Universiti Malaya study, he said, should serve as a wake-up call. Butterflies are vital pollinators. Their disappearance would disrupt ecosystems, food chains, and ultimately human survival, according to a Bernama report.
Wong spoke after officiating a butterfly release ceremony yesterday to mark the sanctuary’s 35th anniversary, where the facility earned recognition from the Malaysia Book of Records for staging the nation’s largest conservation release — 1,698 butterflies from 15 species.
The sanctuary operates three breeding laboratories and public programmes like the Butterfly Chrysalis Adoption. It successfully breeds 200,000 butterflies annually, releasing 10 per cent into the wild. Relies solely on visitor ticket sales.
“For 35 years, our focus has been research and breeding, not profit. But every stage of conservation demands funding,” Wong noted.
He said the sanctuary has undertaken various initiatives to help preserve threatened species, including butterfly breeding programmes through three laboratories and public awareness campaigns such as the Butterfly Chrysalis Adoption Programme.
The sanctuary’s milestone event was officiated by Yang Dipertua Negeri of Melaka, Tun Mohd Ali Rustam, with the MBOR certificate presented by CEO Christopher Wong.