Wing transplant saves butterfly

AN injured butterfly was given a second chance to fly after rescuers performed a wing transplant.

- BY MICHAEL LEE SIMPSON

The monarch - already an endangered species - was taken to Sweetbriar Nature Center in Long Island, New York, with its wing bent and torn.

Janine Bendicksen, its wildlife rehabilitation chief, transplanted a donor wing from a dead butterfly using tweezers, cement and cornflour.

Remarkably, the patient flew immediately after surgery and was released the next day.