Zoo Volunteer Helps Injured Butterfly, Performs Life-Saving Wing Transplant

An injured butterfly was able to fly again after a zoo volunteer performed a wing transplant by attaching a wing from a dead lookalike.

Katie VanBlaricum, who works at a local zoo in Kansas, spotted a Monarch butterfly with a portion of its wing missing.

“I was helping the zoo tag the butterflies when a lady came up to me and said that one of them had a broken wing and said she would have to put it in the freezer," VanBlaricum told SWNS. "I had already repaired a wing in the past so she asked me to help this one so I took it home with me."

VanBlaricum then got to work with her tools ⁠— glass plates, tape, glue and pins ⁠— to hold down the butterfly and attach the wing in place. She cut off the broken wing and attached another wing of a dead Graphium butterfly.

"I have a lot of dead butterflies in my house so I had lots of options to choose from. I managed to find one that was the same size and shape that could work," Daily Mail quoted VanBlaricum saying.

After holding it in place for a few seconds, she let go of the butterfly. She released the butterfly outside after a couple of days.

"When we finally went out it just flew up into the tree and used the wind to help it fly," she said.

VanBlaricum had performed her first butterfly wing transplant in 2013. She works with dead insects, such as dead butterflies, for her business Insect Art where she creates jewelry and frames.

She said, "The insects I use come from insect farms where they are specifically bred for this process they are not taken from the wild and we're not hurting the wild population."