Monarch butterflies can’t seem to catch a break Updated Dec 16, 2020; Facebook Share The announcement by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service yesterday that the monarch butterfly qualifies for threatened or endangered species status but will have to wait until at least 2024 to be listed under the Endangered Species Act was just the latest in an abundance of bad news for the declining insect. A dearth of monarchs was noted by many Pennsylvanians this summer, part of a general lack of butterflies across the state. Some species showed a bit of a rebound in late summer, but 2020 was definitely a noticeably poor year for butterflies.