STOCKHOLM, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The Danish Society for Nature Conservation has launched a national campaign to save endangered butterflies, Swedish Television reported on Sunday.
Members of the public as well as companies, schools, and various associations are all encouraged to take part in the preservation campaign. The idea is to make Danish gardens and rural grounds more butterfly-friendly by planting flowers and plants that attract butterflies.
"Lots of people want to help save the butterflies," Simon Leeds Kros, a project manager at the Danish Society for Nature Conservation, told Swedish Television. "A thousand people have signed up so far and we expect to reach our target of 2,000 people soon. The nice thing about this is that when we help the butterflies, we also help other insects in the garden at the same time."
A total 49 of 60 butterfly species saw a drop in numbers in Denmark between 2014 and 2016. More than half of the country's indigenous butterfly species are under threat of extinction or have already gone extinct. Researchers at Denmark's Aarhus University have studied 77 butterfly species and found that 11 have gone extinct and 32 are endangered.
According to the Danish Society for Nature Conservation, there are two primary reasons for this. On the one hand, there is a shrinking number of places for butterflies to live in and, on the other hand there is a widespread use of pesticides and fertilizers within the agricultural sector.
