SAN DIEGO (April 30, 2021) – This morning at the San Diego Zoo’s native pollinator garden, Mayor Todd Gloria (center) presented a proclamation—declaring May 1, 2021 Monarch Day in the city of San Diego—to Paul Baribault, President and Chief Executive Officer of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (left), and Paige Howorth, the McKinney Family Director of Invertebrate Care and Conservation (right). The monarch butterfly is a recognizable wildlife icon in Southern California and plays an important part in the local ecosystem as a pollinator of native plants.

Teams of biologists and community scientists supported by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and San Diego Zoo Global are again sounding the alarm for the bright orange butterflies that are iconic images of Coastal California. 

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park wildlife care specialists know how popular the Safari Park’s annual spring Butterfly Jungle event is to the thousands of guests who visit each year. While the Safari Park is temporarily closed to on-grounds visitors due to COVID-19 restrictions, dedicated teams of wildlife care specialists and horticulturists are still busy working hard to care for the thousands of butterflies, plants and other wildlife that live inside the Hidden Jungle aviary.