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Wonderful CITES
Eric Hunt wrote:
Nick, Interesting points - but the one thing that kept popping up in my head: Do *YOU* want the same "take-no-prisoners war-on-drugs" federal enforcement officers knocking down your doors and trashing your greenhouse because someone "reported" you as having some of these banned plants you are advocating? The number of innocent people KILLED during mistaken drug raids is well documented - are you ready to die for your orchids? Extreme examples, I know, but I put them out to make people stop and think. Hi Eric, No, that wouldn't please me, but I don't think it is inevitable. There are currently ornamental plants that Americans cannot obtain legally, but I haven't heard of anyone killed during greenhouse raids to look for Aztekium hintonii or Geohintonia mexicana. In the long term, I suspect that enforcement would not have to be much more severe than it is now, but we would need to change our priorities a bit. Now, when a new species is discovered, our priority is to get it into cultivation as soon as possible. That frenzy creates both motive and opportunity to smuggle wild plants. If we were resigned to the fact that P. kovachii would never be available to grow legally, there would be less incentive to collect the wild plants. By way of comparison, I'm sure there is illegal collecting of Mexican cacti like Aztekium hintoni, but since Mexico does not permit exporting the species, most ethical U.S. cactus growers do not even try to obtain one. They are available in Europe, presumably derived from smuggled plants and seed, but I've never seen it for sale here in the US. On the other hand, I have seen many large wild-collected plants of Ariocarpus fissuratus for sale (legally collected in Texas), even though artificially propagated seedlings are readily available. I suspect that with rare, horticulturally desirable plants, we can either have free and easy international trade, or we can have relatively secure wild populations, but not both. Nick |
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