Sustainability

do butterflies sleep

Our philosophy

The Australian Butterfly Sanctuary is the largest butterfly flight aviary in Australia and prides itself on providing a quality and unique wildlife experience since 1987. Home to over 1500 magnificent tropical butterflies, we are self-sustaining in our butterfly breeding programme – which means no butterflies are taken from their natural environment. No other butterfly sanctuary in the world provides all of its own stock.

We at the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary are committed to a sensitive treatment of our environmental resources, wildlife and we are strongly connected to our local community. We believe that we can make a positive impact by our sustainable practices, educating our employees and locals, and providing exceptional service and memorable moments to our visitors.

 

Sustainable and responsible treatment of our natural resources is fundamental

 

Energy consumption

  • The installation of skylights in the laboratory captures natural light
  • Energy-efficient light bulbs in all areas and a motion sensor in the museum helps us
  • We only use as much energy as we need

 

Recycling

  • We installed a recycling management plan
  • Our garden waste and paper get composted and recycled back into our gardens
  • We encourage our customers to recycle plastic bottles and cans by providing bins
  • Soft plastic of souvenir packaging gets recycled and not sold to customers
  • Our laboratory chemicals are recycled with Mareeba Waste Management

 

Treatment of resources

  • We own two acres of tree plantation and feed our caterpillars self-sufficient
  • We monitor and reduce our waste
  • We regularly mulch our garden beds to reduce water loss
  • We use signages rather than printed information material
  • We request less or no plastic packaging with our suppliers

 

 

Our visitors are valuable and deserve a high-quality experience

  • Thus, the weather does not affect breeding processes, visitors can enjoy the park all year long
  • Our annual pass provides unlimited entry for our four parks for an entire year
  • We track our visitors’ experience and actively engage with them in feedback discussions to improve our performance
  • The park is available for private functions, weddings and other events

 

 

Support of our community and other local businesses in the Cairns region

  • We offer educational and interpretational programs for school groups
  • Locals enjoy a 20% discount rate
  • We regularly donate to the Cairns Organisation United for Cancer Health (https://couch.org.au)
  • More than half of our souvenirs in the shop are locally made
  • We sell and promote locally handmade Indigenous souvenirs from the Rainforestation
  • We work together with the local businesses Bird World Kuranda and Kuranda Koala Garden

 

 

Decent employment opportunities and quality education

  • We offer stable employment and (re-)training opportunities for the local community
  • Indigenous employment is actively encouraged and desired
  • Our training centre provides multiple accredited training courses in the hospitality and tourism sector
  • CaPTA developed and implemented an Indigenous Employment Strategy in 2008 to increase employment for local Indigenous people