It’s becoming a regular Gotham City out there.

Things just aren’t the way they used to be in Japan. It wasn’t too long ago that it used to be safe for a butterfly to flutter by down the street without worrying about being kidnapped and killed. Now, with all these kids getting corrupted by the likes of National Geographic, Jean-Henri Fabre, and possibly rap music, insects have to constantly live in fear of being skewered and put on display by some insecticidal collector.

Luckily, police are stepping in to protect our six-legged friends, starting with the arrest of a 55-year-old man in Okayama for catching butterflies. These weren’t just any old butterflies, however; they were the rare Kohyomon Modoki (Mellicta ambigua niphona), found in northeast China, South Korea, and in some parts of central Japan.

▼ The best way to capture a Kohyomon Modoki is on video.

Their numbers have been steadily decreasing due to loss of habitat and they were put on the endangered list in 2023. One of the few remaining places to find them is Norikura Kogen, a resort located near the Kita Alps in Nagano Prefecture. It would seem the locals there are very protective of their butterflies because the Ministry of the Environment quickly began receiving reports of someone attempting to capture their Kohyomon Modoki.

Local police were put on alert and on 21 July spotted a suspicious person carrying an insect net. He was promptly arrested on suspicion of violating the Act on Conservation of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The suspect admitted to the charges, saying: “I knew I wasn’t supposed to catch them, but I wanted to because they’re rare butterflies.”

Online comments felt that the fact he knew about the butterflies’ situation made his crime more serious. On the other hand, others questioned whether people like him are the real threat to wildlife that we should be worried about.

“It’s one thing if a child caught it by accident, but this person knew what he was doing.”
“These creatures spend years underground and beat the odds by avoiding predators, only to get caught by a human before they can reproduce.”
“He was trying to catch and got caught himself.”
“I saw an old guy swinging a net around Mt. Ontake, too.”
“That person clearly knew what they were doing.”
“The decline of this butterfly is due to the environment. The population won’t shrink just because a few people catch them in nets. If we want them to survive, we need to protect their habitat.”
“Funny how catching a single specimen makes the news but the widespread destruction of their environment that made them endangered in the first place doesn’t.”

The suspect in this case faces punishment in the form of up to five years in prison or a maximum fine of five million yen (US$30,000). More severe penalties are likely reserved for those intending to traffic and profit from the capture of endangered species, but given this man’s clear knowledge of the butterfly’s rarity, that’s not out of the question either and is currently pending investigation.

However, some of those comments made an astute point that we often go after and punish those who interfere with endangered species, but rarely do you ever hear of anyone being held accountable for a species becoming endangered in the first place.

Source: TBS News Dig, Yahoo! Japan News
Image: Pakutaso
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