Thames Butterfly Forest on the move
Thames Butterfly Forest has until October to find a new site for its butterfly house.
However, the owners say they want to keep the tourist attraction in Thames or the surrounding area.
Co-owner and manager Daniel Adam said he and his mother, Aminta Adam, and friend Geoff Proctor bought the business in October last year.
They need to find a new site because their current lease at Tararu, where the Butterfly Forest has been for the past 18 years, will not be renewed when it expires in October this year.
Adam said it would be difficult and costly to relocate the butterfly house because it contained mature trees.
Volunteers and those interested in entomology were welcome and a parttime employee was also needed, he said.
‘‘It’s a bit of a pushed schedule but we’re confident we’ll get it done.’’
The trio have grand plans to extend the butterfly house, adding another greenhouse so they can house both Amazonian species and Asian species. They also plan to open a third house for endangered native New Zealand butterflies that could be released.
Proctor, who lives in Nelson, said it had taken a lot of years of hard work to establish the butterfly house, which was a popular tourist attraction in Thames.
‘‘It’s going to take a long time to rebuild up again. Fortunately because it is in a tropical situation, the plants will grow a lot quicker but there’s some stuff we’re not going to be able to move.’’
Adam said they were working with Thames Coromandel District Council to try to find a suitable site.
The butterfly house has between 20 and 35 species of butterfly, with new species being imported regularly.
There are between 400 and 600 butterflies, plus other tropical species, such as frogs, gecko, blue tongue lizard, water dragons and fish – including the omnivorous pacu fish, a relative of the piranha.