The fundamental challenge to prevent species from going extinct is difficult but of grave importance. Halting species from going extinct minimizes the loss of biodiversity. One way of researching biodiversity is by studying species on a genetic level. This creates a dilemma as studying species genetically often requires using destructive sampling and is not desirable or even allowed when studying threatened species. Thus, there is a necessity for alternate sampling methods. In this study both non-lethal and lethal methods were used to gather tissues from the butterfly species Vanessa cardui. The DNA extractions turned out to give varying amounts of DNA, but it was successfully extracted from all the different tissue types. Amplifiable DNA was successfully gained using PCR and confirmed using gel electrophoresis. Existing and newly designed primers for multi-copy genes were used and several of them gave amplifiable DNA. Even if amplifiable DNA has been obtained in other studies, using various tissues, it turned out to only work with a live butterfly’s body in this study.