This costume designer repaired a baby butterfly’s wing, then watched in delight as it flew away

Romy McCloskey is a costume designer by training, with a specialty in intricate bead work that demands precision. She also raises and releases monarch butterflies at her Texas home.

It just so happened that these two skills intersected on a recent day when she actually performed surgery on one of her injured monarch’s wings, an operation that saved its life and allowed it to fly away to migrate.

“Hopefully he’s having a margarita down in Mexico with his buddies,” said McCloskey, 43, a mother of two boys.

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