Please Don’t Walk on the Butterflies
Every year, hundreds of monarch butterflies make the long arduous trek to Pacific Grove, Calif. as part of an annual mating ritual because if you only had one chance per year to get laid, you’d run 100 miles straight in a blinding snowstorm if you had to.
These critters are so beloved by the town that they had made it a very serious crime if any harm comes to them.
The California Coastal Guide says Pacific Grove calls itself “Butterfly Town U.S.A.” It was even featured in a John Steinbeck novel, “Sweet Thursday,” in which the town is threatened because the butterflies didn’t arrive as planned. Don’t even get me started on what happened to their luggage too.
So naturally, a town is implored to protect their biggest economic draw, oh and for conservation and stuff too.
And according to the city’s Municipal Code, the law is still on the books. Title II of the Code’s “Health, Safety and Environment” laws states…
It is declared to be unlawful for any person to molest or interfere with, in any way, the peaceful occupancy of the monarch butterflies on their annual visit to the city of Pacific Grove, and during the entire time they remain within the corporate limits of the city, in whatever spot they may choose to stop in…
Of course, to be fair, the law does allow some interference if the butterflies are getting all up in your grill “in such a way as to interfere with the occupancy and use of said dwelling and/or other buildings, that said butterflies may be removed, if possible, to another location upon the application of said citizen to the chief of police.” That’s good to know if I’m ever being eaten alive by a group of mutated butterflies that have developed the taste for human flesh. As they are devouring me, all I have to do is call the police department…