That area, in Cerro San Andres, is known as a sanctuary but does not have the legal protection of El Rosario. Loggers have been carrying away bags and bags of dead butterflies and now very few remain as evidence that there were millions of them in the forest. Environmentalists say the loggers hope to head off measures to protect the butterflies by eliminating evidence of their presence. The reason for the butterfly deaths is disputed. Environmentalists blame spraying by loggers, even though tests taken in early March by Michoacan state authorities and officials from the federal enforcement agency for environmental protection showed no traces of pesticides.
More tests have yet to yield results.
It smelled like pesticide here. Maravatio Mayor Jaime Hinojosa said he found out about the butterfly deaths after he asked local officials to pinpoint the insects' location in advance of a yearly festival honoring them. They were all dead. Roberto Solis, head of the Monarch Butterfly Reserve, said the butterflies died not of poisoning but of exposure to cold because of extensive clandestine logging by area peasants who sell the lumber to manufacturers. They were not fumigated.