Butterflies as income - a Costa Rican story

Days ago we wrote about a butterfly farm close to San José, this time the Seattle Times reports about butterflies as source of income for many Costa Ricans.

From the article: “The idea to export butterflies from Costa Rica began one day in 1983, when Joris Brinckerhoff, a New Hampshire native and Peace Corps volunteer hitchhiking in the Central American nation, was picked up by a butterfly enthusiast who had heard that people in southeast Asia had begun exporting the insects for exhibit. Brinckerhoff decided to give it a try in Costa Rica.

In the meantime, the business is doing so well that he hired employees and sells the insects to museums. A pupa is sold for 1-2 US$. More than 100 butterfly farmers are connected to this export company.

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