PS. I mean "suggest" in a vague way. I mean "own" in a vague way. I meant
this sentence to contrast with another sentence about some of the Malaysian
people being party to the collection and sale. I wonder if the Malaysian
government has laws against collecting and selling native plants and how
they enforce those laws if they exist. How do plants not allowed to leave
Malaysia get all the way to the British border before somebody stops them?
Why is always reported that it is at the border of the foreign country that
these plants are caught and the carrier arrested? Why don't we see articles
about how local vendors are caught with plants and how the plants are taken
back to the hillside they were stripped from?

I know the US has laws against the collection, ownership and sale of native
species. How many Americans own native orchids? Or make them a central
part of their orchid collections? How many foreigners have our native
orchids in their collections? I believe buying native American orchids here
in this country is rather hard. Everyone is concerned that they are not
wild collected. Yet there are a few vendors of native orchids and their
catalogs are pretty sparse compared with the number of native orchids I know
of. Why look outside your own borders for 'treasures"?

Al" wrote in message
...
CITES suggests that the governments own the plants in their borders and
decide their fate.