Venus flytraps, the rare carnivores of the plant world, are native only to areas within 100 miles of Wilmington, North Carolina. While the plant is now grown elsewhere, North Carolina is still a prime target for poachers looking to sell the plants to nurseries.
On February 5th, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission caught smugglers with 900 venus flytraps which were soon replanted by volunteers from the Nature Conservancy. A few weeks later, 1,300 more were recovered from poachers and again replanted.
The replanting is just the latest in the Nature Conservancy’s efforts to protect the flytraps’ native habitat.
The US Fish & Wildlife Service lists the plant as a “species of special concern” for Brunswick County under the Endangered Species Act, so if poachers are caught in the act, they can be fined $50 per plant. But catching them was proving to be difficult, with hundreds of plants vanishing every year.
Along with the North Carolina State Department of Agriculture, the organization painted flytraps in heavily poached areas with a non-toxic dye that will glow under ultra-violet light. Using this technology, they hope to trap more of the flytrap poachers than ever.
The Associated Press found that although the species itself will survive elsewhere, only 23 of the 117 known wild populations of the venus flytrap have a chance of surviving.
Photo Credit: biskuit on Flickr under Creative Commons license.
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Alex Felsinger
Alex is primarily concerned with animal welfare, wildlife conservation, and environmental justice. As a freelance writer in San Francisco, he leads a deliberately simplistic and thrifty lifestyle, yet still can’t help gawking at the newest green gadgets and zero-emission concept cars.
One Response to Poached Venus Flytraps Return to North Carolina Native Soil
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Its a shame that people are taking them from theyre natural envirnment. I live in devon, england and we get venus flytraps on the moors in the peat bogs along with sun dews and sphagnum moss.Luckily as of yet, noone has been poaching them that is known of. its a haven for plant enthusiasts and it is a protected national park so hopefully they will be prevolent for years to come.