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Monarch butterfly sanctuary hit by cold weather Mexico City declares 1st air pollution alert since 2005

Monarch butterfly sanctuary  hit by cold weather Mexico City declares 1st air pollution alert since 2005

Monarch butterfly sanctuary hit by cold weather Mexico City declares 1st air pollution alert since 2005

NATIONAL

The Mexico City government declared its first air pollution alert in 11 years Monday after ozone levels reached almost twice the acceptable limit.

The measure requires older and more heavily polluting vehicles to stay off the road Tuesday, in an attempt to improve air quality.

The city's environment office attributed the conditions to a high-pressure system and intense sunlight.

Mexico City used to regularly reach high smog levels, before a rule was introduced to discourage cars more than 8 years old. That rule was recently relaxed by a court order, and environmental activists and officials say that has led to more cars on city streets.

Ozone is a component of smog that can cause respiratory problems. Mexico City's last city alert for ozone was in 2002. The last pollution alert for air particles was in 2005.

Mexico City sits in a high mountain valley, where the surrounding mountains can trap pollutants and prevent them from dispersing. The city is 7,350 feet (2,240 meters) above sea level.

Butterfly watchers in New Brunswick are fearing the worst, after a freak winter storm struck a Monarch sanctuary west of Mexico City last week.

"This is a heartbreaking development," said Quispamsis conservationist Jim Wilson.

Every year, Wilson eagerly awaits the butterflies' mid-summer arrival, which comes mid-July, near the end of an epic migration.

That journey had just begun, when temperatures plunged well below freezing last Thursday in El Rosario.

Snow-crusted butterflies appeared to be still clinging to trees in photos posted on Facebook by Homero Gomez Gonzalez, the chair of the sanctuary there.

He said it was better to see them still perched on tree trunks, rather than lying dead on the ground.

Orley "Chip" Taylor, founder of Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas, said that could be a good sign, although sometimes fatally damaged butterflies don't fall until later.

"I've been down there when the butterflies are dead on the tree trunks and they look alive but if you pick them up, you realize they've frozen in place," he said.

 NATIONAL

Escrito en: City, Mexico, last, alert

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