http://www.care2.com/greenliving/release-the-bugs-or-not.html
Release the Bugs! Or Not?
Now that it’s Spring, one of our favorite activities in the garden is a ladybug release. The girls will watch for hours as ladybugs crawl over the plants. They’re enthralled by the tiny bright bodies and paper-thin wings. And they simply love the tickly feeling of ladybugs pattering across their skin.
We purchase a box of ladybugs from the store, and the girls take turns holding it all the way home. They lay on their bellies and peer inside, watching the little box crawling with life.
We eagerly wait until dusk and then it’s time. We sprinkle water all over the plants with the worst aphid infestations. (This activity takes quite some time, as any adventure with a spray bottle is just massively fun.)
Then, we crack the box. Because it’s getting dark, the ladybugs are tranquil. They begin to crawl out warily, but once they hit a leaf they move faster. As soon as they locate even the tiniest droplet of water they freeze, apparently taking huge “lady-gulps” of water. If you’ve water on your finger, they’ll freeze there and drink for so long you think they’re hibernating.
Once the bravest ladybugs escape, my daughters have a wonderful time transferring the more passive ladybugs from sawdust in the box to plants in the garden, carefully carrying each bug to a “perfect” spot.
Ladybugs awaken my daughters’ senses, their curiosity, and their enthusiasm for living creatures. But, I do have a moral question: Is it right to purchase living creatures mass transported in boxes around the country, even if they are released into freedom? Somehow, part of me has a twinge of worry. What if the ladybugs in my box were captured from the wild? What if a large percentage of them die during their transport? Am I supporting an industry that harms wildlife?
I don’t have the answers to these questions, but I’m curious what others think. In parenting, I’ve noticed that sometimes, an innocent creature falls victim to an eager fist. But it’s a child eager for nature, a child that desperately loves animals-just a little too much.
Of course I try to lead by example and gentleness, I lay out guidelines (no pinching, only gathering on sticks) but I don’t have the heart to save every pillbug from a toddler’s finger pinch. I worry that reacting too strongly, or preventing the contact at all, could be far worse - a child distanced from nature, one that feels scolded and timid will fail to feel the great openness and wildness that make nature so important to the soul.
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37 comments
add your comment »I saw loads of bugs when staying in my ski chalets in Switzerland this year on vacation.
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I made my essay writing on this topic
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Bugs are not very easy stuff
http://gpalabs.com/
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thankyou...
Kabin
Konteyner
mega kabin
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The garden stores locally now give free ladybugs to people since this is a organic gardening community. And the lady bugs can become over populated in certain areas and then the birds come and eat them all. To me its akin to taking the eggs of endangered birds and hatching them, returning them to the wild. We also give away worm casings, to other organic gardeners, so that the worms that hatch can be used to eat their compost and thus make their soil healthier. Fact is we are saving the lady bugs etc rather than using pesticides that kill both good and bad bugs. Makes me wonder how many people here posting grow their own food or only buy organic foods.
~Beth~
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You can buy boxes of ladybirds in the USA??? In a pet shop? That's strange & a bit saddening. Can we not leave anything alone?
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I've been trying to deal with an aphid infestation in my (organic) garden that has resisted standard treatments. I was feeling good about going for a natural solution by ordering lady bugs before reading the discussion here. Honestly, I hadn't thought about non-native lady bugs, which was stupid since I've been actively removing non-native vegetation. I was very relieved to discover that, by chance, I'd ordered native lady bugs and won't have to feel guilty. Except for my impact on the aphid population. And on the lady bugs who are being transported to my garden without their consent. Hmm. Hard to get these things right.
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Lady bugs around here are a lot like our bee hives in that they 'swarm' in the spring which makes it easier for us to gently gather up a handful in an open bucket to carry to another part of the property where there is both water and nectar bearing weeds, flowers etc. They they will seek out an old tree with an open area where they will nest.
Sometimes I think people need to know how nature works. We had a swarm of honey bees on the side of the house who were looking to set up a new hive. So simply putting a new bee hive setup with a rack of honey inside was all they needed to set up house in the hive box rather than the side of the house where once it gets hot the hive would have slid off and all the bees would have died.
Native American elder friends in their nineties have shared how they used smoking sage brush to calm the bees to harvest some of their honey.
~Beth~
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Let common sense prevail. The ladybugs get a feast. You get rid of your aphids. Your children learn about nature. Mother nature is relentless and unyielding. Do we care only about the ladybugs because they appeal to our senses because they are "cute"? Is it moral to spare a creature because it is cute and not another because it isn't? Where does one draw the line? At common sense of course. If insects weren't controlled they would take over the earth in a few short months. Ask yourself, why you worry about the morality of buying and shipping ladybugs but why you don't worry about killing the aphids. Where should it end? What about fungi, and bacteria? We have to employ common sense.
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The ladybugs come to your garden (doesn't matter how they get there). They have a feast on your aphids. You protect your plants with the ladybugs. It's a natural symbiotic relationship.
Much better than chemicals. Insects procreate at a terrific rate of speed. if some did not die they would overrun the world in less than a few months.
Do we begrudge the birds the insects they eat?
And if we are worried about the ladybugs, then why aren't we worried about the aphids? Is it moral to kill the aphids?
Why worry about ladybugs if we're not worried about aphids?
Because the ladybugs are cute and appealing to our senses and aphids are not? If so, is that truly moral?
Let common sense strike a balance.
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