Exotic butterflies’ escape closes The Leaf attraction two days after heat shutters entire facility By: Kevin Rollason Posted: 6:49 PM CDT Tuesday, Jun. 6, 2023 Last Modified: 8:53 AM CDT Wednesday, Jun. 7, 2023 Updates

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Construction deficiencies allowing butterflies to escape their indoor garden enclosure have forced The Leaf to close the popular attraction just six months after its opening.

The Assiniboine Park Conservancy confirmed Tuesday it took the action in order to comply with federal regulations mandated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The freed exotic butterflies risked infecting native bugs.

“Despite careful monitoring of the biome’s entrance and exit, some butterflies have managed to escape into other parts of the building,” Conservancy spokeswoman Laura Cabak said. “Last week, we conducted testing and found there are some gaps that need to be addressed.

“We are confident no butterflies escaped the building.”

All of the butterflies native to other countries have been captured and moved to a back-of-house holding facility at the nearby Assiniboine Park Zoo, Cabak said.

“With CFIA approval, we will reopen the biome with native butterfly species until the necessary repairs can be addressed. We expect to reopen soon.”

Until the exhibit reopens, the Conservancy has lowered the admission price from $15 to $10 for adults and has been distributing gift cards to season-pass holders.

It’s the second problem the multimillion-dollar horticultural structure has had to deal with in recent days.

The facility was forced to close for three hours Sunday when one of its heat sensors showed the temperature in one area of a tropical plant biome had risen to 43 C at a time when Environment and Climate Change Canada was reporting the mercury outside had reached 31.5 C with a humidex of 39.

 

The Conservancy said Monday all the other sensors had a peak average of 33.7 C and protocols are under review to look at making adjustments in managing temperatures in the building.

The facility has air conditioning only in its restaurant, office and event spaces and the butterfly biome. Future closures are possible to ensure the safety of staff, volunteers and visitors, the Conservancy said.

The building was constructed with the contribution of $60 million from the three levels of government, along with private donations.

Mayor Scott Gillingham urged patience from the public.

“This is a brand-new building with complex architecture and innovative exhibits. I trust the Conservancy will work through these operating issues and The Leaf will continue to be one of our city’s star attractions.”

A Winnipegger who visited The Leaf Tuesday told the Free Press he counted more than a dozen electric fans plugged into various outlets throughout the tropical plant biomes.

“If they were to get out into the environment, they might find another plant they could eat and could establish a population where they are not native.”–Jeffrey Marcus

Jeffrey Marcus, a professor in the University of Manitoba’s department of biological sciences, said there are several reasons why the CFIA strictly monitors and regulates exotic butterflies in Canadian facilities.

The concerns are mostly related to agriculture because the exotic butterflies the park buys are born and raised in Costa Rica, Marcus said.

“If they are getting out to the main part of The Leaf facility you potentially have the possibility for violating the permit requirements,” he said.

“If they were to get out into the environment, they might find another plant they could eat and could establish a population where they are not native. In Costa Rica, they are grown under circus-size nets where they could get insect viruses, bacteria, fungi.

“So if they were to come here, and were strong enough to escape and fly around, they could get out and bump into native butterflies and bees and there is the possibility of an insect disease getting transplanted from Costa Rica to Canada.”

The federal agency is also worried an insect not native to here could get out and decimate agricultural crops, Marcus said, adding it is unusual for a butterfly facility to be built indoors and next to an exotic plant exhibit space.

“The way butterfly houses are run in North America is the display areas people walk through are planted with all sorts of plants, but the plants aren’t any of the ones the caterpillars are capable of eating. This way, if they make it through any gaps, they won’t have anything to eat and they will starve,” he said.

“If they could get to plants they could eat and they start chowing down on plants, in a very short time the display would get ratty pretty fast.”

The gaps the butterflies were able to get through are believed to exist because of “a building deficiency,” Cabak said.

“The extent of the work required and responsibility for the associated costs is still to be determined, however, we do not believe APC will be responsible for costs to remedy the issue,” she said.

The Conservancy launched a lawsuit in 2021 against the engineering and architectural firms involved in constructing the facility, which is more than 92,000 square feet.

Winnipeg’s Architecture49, KPMB Architects and Blackwell Bowick Partnership were sued because of roof design problems. The allegations have not been proven in court.

“Given the more recent heat, as a precaution, we are in the process of transferring the koi to a temporary holding area.”–Laura Cabak

No one from Architecture49 or Bird Construction, which built the facility, could be reached for comment.

The Leaf was originally supposed to open in 2020, but construction delays prevented it from opening until December.

Meanwhile, the hot conditions inside and outside The Leaf are affecting more than just visitors.

Cabak said when the weather began warming in February and March they found some of the koi fish were being impacted and moved them elsewhere so they could recover.

“Given the more recent heat, as a precaution, we are in the process of transferring the koi to a temporary holding area,” she said.

“No fish died, they just needed help.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca