Is it a crime to kill a ladybug in Tennessee?
If you've ever seen a praying mantis in person, you may have been frightened by its exotic looks.For the first time, anyone would be given pause by its face.We fear what we don't know because of the law of human nature.Most would want to know what it is.Everyone is happy to see a ladybug land on or near them.Millions of people visit butterfly exhibits and preserves such as Butterfly World in South Florida every year to see the beautiful butterflies.Those who believe in spirit guides expect a transition in their lives when they see a dragonfly because they are like the angel Gabriel, here to let you know there is a change coming.The only animal that is at home in the air, water and on land is the dragonflies.
There are penalties for killing a praying mantis.A review of state and federal laws will find nothing that protects praying mantises and the whole thing appears to be an urban legend.That is doubtful.Killing them is a rotten thing to do.
There are about 2,000 species of praying mantises, but only twenty of them live in the U.S.The way they hold their front legs is referred to as the common name.They blend into the branches, leaves, flowers, and ground where they live.The mantis species eat other insects, small mammals, lizards, and even their own mates.
It is not a bug, it is a beetle.It has the same problems as the Volkswagen Beetle.The Volkswagen people think their car is a Beetle.The rest of us call it a bug.It makes us happy and they still sell cars.Songs about houses burning down are probably not called the ladybug Coleoptera by entomologists.The beneficial bugs are an elite group of SEAL TEAM type forces.You may have an enemy under your leaves if you don't have ladybugs in your garden.They cause a lot of harm.Your foliage is destroyed by the little bloodsuckers.Home gardeners buy thousands of them and release them into their gardens.
Butterflies, for example, have a reputation of being beneficial because they eat other insects in the home garden, but they do not discriminate between harmful and beneficial insects.
It's important to note that from an animal rights viewpoint, the concept of "beneficial" insects is very chauvinistic.Every insect has a place in the system.A cowbird eats a tick on a cow and then flies around planting seeds that grow trees.Also, etc.All animals have their own value and are beneficial to themselves, so judging an animal as beneficial ignores the fact.Gardeners buy ladybugs to release in their gardens so that they can eat the destructive pests that eat flowers and vegetables.The cockroaches have no value.There is a
There is no federal law that protects the praying mantis or any of the other good bugs.A lot of insects have been put on the list due to habitat loss and indiscriminate use of pesticides.The Animal Welfare Act does not apply to most bugs.
CITES does not currently protect beneficial bugs.CITES is an international treaty that regulates trade in threatened species.There is no species of praying mantis that is listed under CITES.Even if a praying mantis species were listed, CITES would not apply because it only applies to international trade.It would be a bad thing to do.
This is where it gets interesting.All invertebrates are excluded from some state animal cruelty laws.All insects or Alaska Stat 03.55.190.New Mexico Stat 30-18-1 excludes them from their definition of an animal.
Some states do not exclude insects from their laws.The whole brute creation is included in New Jersey's definition of animal.4:22-15Every living creature except members of the human race is considered an animal in Minnesota.343.20.