Poaching alerts!

[BarryRice]

Seen signs of recent poaching? Something you want to report? Suspicious eBay auctions?

[PlantAKiss]

There was someone selling Oreo seeds on eBay but I believe he was reported about 50 times.

Also saw signs of what is believed to be flytrap removal recently in the Green Swamp area. Sad to see.

[BarryRice]

Thanks for the head's up about the seller on eBay.

I contacted the seller, and actually found out that he had been in compliance with CITES regulations. (At least, as far as I can tell---I'm no CITES wonk.)

Cheers

Barry

[PlantAKiss]

I wonder how he was in compliance. From a location in Canada, he sold 100 S. oreo seeds for $6 to "ernies*******" in the US (I think NC). Sale was completed as feedback was left on March 2nd. His second listing of seeds at 99-cents was ended early with a statement the seeds were no longer for sale. Its seems "ernie******" also sells CPs. I hope maybe he plans to give the seeds or resulting plants away.

[Clint]

I emailed him of my own accord and also sent him a message on Bugweeds behalf and nothing ever came of it. I guess he's not going to reply to me.

[tool]

Always bothered me, but I believe that Fly Trap Farm in N.C. digs up plants on their own property. Wouldn't that be a bad thing? Never really knew if it was legal, or if it wasn't what to do about it.

[BarryRice]

People can do whatever they wish to the plants on their own property. If they own the property, they own the plants. (Although I don't even know if the company you mention is doing the harvesting of their plants, as you described.)

Interestingly, though, my understanding is that landowners do not own the wild animals on their own property. This is a dichotomy that came to the USA from England, where the animals were the King's to hunt, and not the landowners.

But I may be quite wrong on that---my understanding of human history is weak at best.

Barry

[tool]

Regarding doing what you want on your own land: that's what I thought, but thought I would mention it just to be sure. It always kind of bothered me, since from the sounds of it, it's pristine bog land with a good amount of different CP's and digging them up just doesn't seem right.

[pthiel]

barryrice said:

But I may be quite wrong on that---my understanding of human history is weak at best.

Barry

Human History? How is your understanding of inhuman history (The Mythos) ?

Pete

[bugweed]

Folks wwho own the land CP are on do indeed own them. They can do with them whatever they please, so don't stress over it. Whether you think it right or wrong, it is, unfortunately, none of your business.

[ICPS-bob]

Hmmmm. I wonder if would be more socially acceptable if they drained the land and grew cotton, or corn, or potatoes as a cash crop rather than Dionaea. Personally, I think I would prefer a crop of Dionaea, so long as they were grown, harvested, and sold legally.

[Clint]

Doesn't bother me. Their land, their plants, their profit, their business. Granted I wouldn't (couldn't) do it but I don't see the problem.


As far as "right" and "wrong" well who makes up these things? Right and wrong don't matter, legal and illegal do. Ethics can be interpreted in many, many ways. What's unethical, and even evil to you may not be to me and visca versa. So as long as they stay within the bounds of the law, it's not our concern to impose our morals onto this business, collectively or not.

Just my 2 cents. Take it as you like.

[BarryRice]

Back in, oh, around 2000, I had the extreme honor of being carted around by Alabama State Heritage staff to about a half dozen privately owned S. oreophila and S. alabamensis sites.

The drill was always the same...arrive at a farmhouse, have the Heritage Staff introduce me to the landowners, and then we'd all set a spell drinking tea and scratching the family dogs while we got to know each other. Then we'd go off to see the plants. What's really cool is that all the landowners appreciated and were very proud about their globally rare plants. They loved the fact that people were coming all the way from California just to see their little patches of pitcher plants. And in terms of management, they wanted to do what was right by their plants, like seasonal burns, keeping heavy equipment from the delicate wetlands, and other kinds of good stewardship practices that cheered me greatly.

Anyway, one of the landowners pulled out a scrapbook and showed me an old, yellowing newspaper article. The author of the article claimed, completely erroneously, that if you were a landowner and you had rare pitcher plants on your property, the Federal Government would condemn your land and seize it. The article was printed in a newspaper that had circulation over the majority (if not all) of the Alabama counties that had S. oreophila and S. alabamensis.

When I read this article, I had on a mild smile at the silliness of it all. The landowner realized I didn't understand the real implications of that article. He told me he reckoned that about 1/3 of the remaining, privately owned sites were plowed over by farmers within a week of that article being published.

The power of the press...

[Clint]

It's really sad. It truly is. I'd hate to have that resting on my shoulders as the man who wrote that article but the unfortunate fact is that most people really don't care. I don't understand that and never will.


Good ole southern hospitality Tea and Pitcher Plants. I love it! Thanks for that story. I'm glad some old timers care.

[flytraper]

tool said:

I believe that Fly Trap Farm in N.C. digs up plants on their own property.

I have a ping and a sundew from flytrap farm that i found at a local garden center. is it ok to get more plants from them?