Inside the Dark World of a British Man’s Forbidden Butterfly Obsession

Inside the Dark World of a British Man’s Forbidden Butterfly Obsession

At trial, Cullen insisted that he was innocent. While he admitted that he’d been collecting butterflies for 50 years, he said that he’d purchased many of his specimens online and had never killed a large blue himself. According to Cullen, the letter and number markings next to the butterflies didn’t stand for Daneway Banks and Collard Hill. Instead, they represented the creatures’ coloring: “Dark Blue” and “Cobalt Hue.” And while he couldn’t remember what “18” stood for, he posited that he may have been recording the butterflies’ wingspan.

This account was rejected by the court, and he was found guilty of capturing, killing, and possessing two large blue butterflies. Cullen is believed to be the first person in the U.K. ever convicted for collecting butterflies. Consequently, he was handed a six-month suspended prison sentence, made to perform 250 hours of community service, and banned from three nature reserves. He also had to turn over some of his butterfly display cases to museums.

According to The Guardian, prosecutor Ian Jackson stated at the time, “These charges are not brought on the grounds of cruelty, they are brought on the grounds of endangering a species — a rare and beautiful butterfly that has once been found extinct and is struggling to establish a foothold.”


After reading about Phillip Cullen, the man who was arrested for catching butterflies, learn about the murders linked to a monarch butterfly sanctuary in Mexico. Then, read about the Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing, the world’s largest butterfly.

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