WATCH: Fair Haven Family Dog Eats Butterfly Kids Raised For Weeks

FAIR HAVEN, NJ — A couple of Fair Haven kids learned all about the circle of life recently, when the family dog ate one of the butterflies they had been painstakingly raising for weeks. The butterfly was killed seconds after their mother released it into the wild, all of which was captured in the video below.

"Their aunt gave them a set of five caterpillars as an Easter gift," explained Fair Haven mom Brooke Lore de Bruijn, 36, a stay-at-home mother of three children, ages 4, 6 and 8. "It was supposed to teach them about raising something and the whole life cycle."

The metamorphosis was slow-going, but fascinating for the children to watch.

"We watched the caterpillars week by week, as they went from a chrysalis into a butterfly. We waited every day for their wings to harden," the mom said. "They talked about the butterflies and checked on them every day."

Finally, on a sunny day at the end of April, they knew the time had come to finally release the butterflies. The family even had to wait for just the right temperature, she explained.

"We waited three days for the right day; the weather needs to be at least 65 degrees at midday; there are all these rules," she said. "The booklet even explained that these butterflies, which I think are called painted ladies, have a bad taste so birds don't want to eat them once we let them go."

The day of the big butterfly release had arrived: The aunt came over with her iPhone and the de Bruijn children went outside. Their mother told them it was best to keep Hunter, their 1-year-old Boxer puppy, in the house. But the kids insisted he be there.

"They think he is part of the family, so they wanted him there," she said. "I think they knew he was very interested in the butterflies. He kept watching the cage. But nobody thought he was going to do .... that."

"We released the first one without any problems. We waved goodbye to him and he flew off," she said.

The second butterfly was not so lucky. As soon as he was released, Hunter couldn't resist. de Bruijn's 8-year-old daughter was holding him on the leash, but he jumped out of her grasp. Within seconds of its release, Hunter swallowed the butterfly whole. You can watch the whole thing on video below.

The aunt screamed. de Bruijn's 6-year-old son shouted, "I told you so! I KNEW that was going to happen!" she recalled.

Hunter opened his mouth and spit the baby butterfly out, but it was too late, she said. The butterfly was dead.

Luckily, her kids weren't too upset.

"We released the other three and they flew away," de Bruijn said. "I don't even know what happened to that one butterfly. They didn't have a funeral for him or anything."

Here is the video:

Video posted by Chad Evin Lore, used with permission.