But it's for the butterflies
If only they would put so much effort into illegal immigration and drug interdiction:
Mexican Park Rangers Protect Butterflies
SIERRA CHINCUA, Mexico - With assault rifles over their shoulders and body armor strapped to their chests, Roberto Paleo and his 17 officers are among the world's most heavily armed park rangers. Yet they guard one of nature's most delicate creatures — the monarch butterfly.
The rangers say they need the weapons to protect the winter nesting grounds of millions of orange and black winged butterflies from armed gangs of illegal loggers in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.
Loggers in this country have a reputation for being rough and rugged. But they pale in comparison to the loggeristas:
In 2003, a group of 100 loggers armed with shotguns and machetes held three park rangers hostage for six hours while they chopped down trees.
"These loggers are heavily armed, organized groups who are sometimes linked to drug traffickers," said environmentalist Homero Aridjis, a Michoacan native who has been campaigning to protect the monarchs for three decades.
TB and I lived in a northern Texas town for a few years that was on the Monarch migration path, the tree next to our house attracted thousands of butterflies every year. Very pretty, but they kept us up all night with their wild parties. Still, that's a minor inconvenience next to the prospect of a hundred armed loggers.
Sigh. Soooo glad to be an American.
