Police Raid Seven Sawmills Near Michoacan Monarch Butterfly Refuge Agence France-Presse
go to original September 21, 2016

Organized criminal gangs have helped make Mexico one of the worst victims of deforestation in the world. However, a small community is now taking on illegal loggers who used to be supported by gangs to protect their trees. (Al Jazeera)

A special Mexican police unit has raided seven sawmills near the monarch butterfly's mountain sanctuary in a bid to prevent illegal logging threatening the insect's winter migration, officials said Tuesday.

Backed up by a helicopter, some 220 members of the country's police force and 40 forestry inspectors participated in the September 12 operation in the western state of Michoacan.

North American governments have taken steps since last year to protect the monarch butterfly, which crosses Canada and the United States each year to hibernate on the fir and pine trees of Mexico's western mountains.

Last week's raid was the first since the government decided in April to add the police to protection efforts for the brilliant orange and black monarchs.

The force has been conducting foot patrols day and night, using drones and helicopters for surveillance when weather permits, Abel Corona, director of the special units, said at a news conference.

The authorities permanently shut down three sawmills in the town of Ocampo and one was temporarily closed while its legality is verified, the government said.

Three more were temporarily closed in Aporo for lack of the proper paperwork.

No one was arrested. The operators of the illegal mills fled before the police arrived.

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