Exotic butterflies set to spread their wings again at The Leaf

The biome at The Leaf tropical house at Assiniboine Park has been repaired and will soon host butterflies again.

Deficiencies that closed the $130-million building to the winged insects for months have been completed and approved.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency gave its stamp of approval last week for the Assiniboine Park facility to resume displaying tropical butterflies.

Chris Enright, senior director of zoological operations at the Assiniboine Zoo, said numerous chrysalides have arrived from Costa Rica and were put in the facility’s emergence chamber last week.

As they come out of their chrysalis over the next two weeks, they will be released into the biome, he said.

“We are excited to see them return to The Leaf,” Enright said. “We are confident we have addressed the issues. The visitor experience will be very much the same as before.”

Exotic butterflies from Central America were fluttering around when The Leaf opened in December 2022. But the butterfly biome, known officially as the Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden, was ordered closed a few months later by the CFIA after it was discovered they were escaping out of gaps in the walls and windows.

The CFIA took the problem seriously and pulled The Leaf’s exotic butterfly permit. Had the insects multiplied outside the building, it could have negative repercussions on Canada’s agriculture industry.

Inspectors never found any of the butterflies outside the facility.

The butterfly biome later reopened, with only domestic butterflies, but had to close again to allow for repairs to seal all of the gaps in the large windowed facility.

The repairs were completed and, just last week, the CFIA issued a new permit to allow the facility to import and house tropical butterflies.

As many as 30 species are expected to flutter through the facility, which patrons enter by passing two sets of double doors and a large curtain.

Enright said they include the Morpho peleides, which have iridescent wings, and Caligo species, which have huge eye spots on their wings so, when they rest on a tree, they resemble an owl, which wards off predators.

He said there are several mirrors at the exit, so patrons can check if they have any hitchhiking butterflies attached to them, while sharp-eyed volunteers are there to look for them.

“We’re confident the butterflies will stay contained,” Enright said.

“We look forward to welcoming the community back to experience the magic that is butterflies.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca