COOL!
A zoo volunteer was able to save the life of a fragile butterfly by performing a wing transplant and intricately attaching a piece from a dead lookalike.
Katie VanBlaricum, 36, spotted a Monarch butterfly with a piece of its wing missing while working at her local zoo in Kansas.
She immediately decided to repair the damaged insect after fearing it would need to be put down.
Armed with tape, glue and pins, Ms VanBlaricum got to work and managed to hold down the butterfly long enough to glue on a piece of wing taken from a dead butterfly.
Just a matter of days later, the insect was up and flying again and Ms VanBlaricum bid farewell to her new friend.
“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 in the freezer. I had already repaired a wing in the past so she asked me to help this one so I took it home with me.”
Katie VanBlaricum
Butterfly Doctor
Calamity Jane