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250 monarch butterfly chrysalises up for adoption

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The butterflies are returning to Dawson and new employees and employees who have never fostered a butterfly will have priority for adoption.

鈥淲e are excited about the return of students and employees to the college grounds,鈥 said Jennifer de Vera of Dawson鈥檚 Sustainability Office. 鈥淭he butterflies are a hopeful symbol of change and new beginnings.鈥

Dawson employees can fill out an to express their interest in temporarily caring for the chrysalises as they eclose into butterflies.

There are 50 pop-up tents that will be distributed with chrysalises and another 60-80 will be in the outdoor butterfly enclosure in the Three Sisters Garden, a rooftop garden just off of Conrod鈥檚 in the Upper Atrium. Employees and students are welcome to visit the butterfly enclosure. Contact sustainability@dawsoncollege.qc.ca聽to request a visit.

Student volunteers to release the monarchs

The new monarch butterflies will be tagged and released into the Peace Garden on campus (near the Wood and Sherbrooke corner). The Sustainabili-team student volunteers are responsible for caring, releasing and tagging the monarchs.

鈥淲e will monitor the monarch watch site to see if any of our monarchs are spotted as they make their annual migration to the tops of the Oyumel trees in Mexico,鈥 Jennifer said.

Dawson has been named a Monarch Oasis by Montreal鈥檚 Espace pour la vie due to the large amount of milkweed plants on campus. Females only lay their eggs on milkweed and the plant is the only food for the monarch caterpillars.

鈥淲e are proud to know that our gardens provide a safe haven for this beautiful species at risk,鈥 Jennifer said.

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Last Modified: August 18, 2021