A monarch butterfly feeds on milkweed in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley, file)

A monarch butterfly — the twin black spots on its hind wings mark it as a male — on common milkweed, the host plant for monarch caterpillars, in Dickinson County. (Betsy Bloom/Daily News)

A monarch butterfly feeds on milkweed in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley, file)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration has delayed a decision on whether to extend federal protections to monarch butterflies indefinitely despite years of warnings from conservationists that populations are shrinking.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced during the waning days of then-President Joe Biden’s term in December 2024 that the agency planned to add the beloved backyard pollinator to the threatened species

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