The internet is slamming a couple for killing an indeterminate amount of butterflies on their wedding day. The photographer of the wedding posted on the Reddit forum “Wedding Shaming,” explaining they recently photographed a wedding where the family attempted to do a “butterfly release” after the ceremony, except all of the butterflies died before the release.

Butterfly releases are popular at weddings, and couples often release them as a sendoff at the end of the ceremony. These releases are extremely cruel and are often done with commercially raised butterflies which can harm the environment and other butterflies because they can spread “diseases and epidemics” and confuse the migratory patterns of native butterflies.

The photographer, u/throwthrowthrow713, said when they were first told about the release, they assumed there would be a “big cage/aquarium full of butterflies and [the couple] would open it.” However, the butterflies were kept in small “butterfly-shaped” boxes.

“The boxes were tiny, so it was clear the butterflies were trapped with no possibility of movement,” u/throwthrowthrow713 said.

The mother of the bride gave one tiny box to every member of the wedding party.

“Then it hit me. We’re in the south, it was burning out outside. It was impossible to survive in this heat and…well all the butterflies that were probably sitting in a box in the car since this morning were dead,” wrote u/throwthrowthrow713.

Then once the wedding guests went to open their boxes, the butterflies wither fell on the ground or “stayed lifeless in their boxes.”

Other Reddit users reacted to the horrifying abuse by saying, “For goodness sakes, just go with WIND UP BUTTERFLIES (which are reusable and make great favors/keepsakes too),” u/Foodventure wrote.

“Wow, shame on them…Some people refuse to use their brains and hearts,” u/dietokitten said.

It is never ok to use animals for entertainment. There are so many other options that can be just as beautiful but that do not require exploiting and murdering animals.

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