News Jul 5, 2017 at 4:00 am

To Catch an International Carnivorous Plant Smuggler, Sometimes You Have to Go Undercover

Comments

1
I don't like that this article keeps shoehorning our carnivorous plant meetup in with Matt's bad choices. It seems to make us out to be villains. Matt's plant smuggling was completely on his own accord. Most people who attend the meets now don't even know who Matt is, and many didn't even know what had happened until he was being investigated.

The article also makes it seem illegal to own Nepenthes. This is 100% false. It is completely legal to own Nepenthes within the US, even sell and trade them within the US. However, it is illegal to import them from outside of the US without proper permits, as the US is part of the CITES agreement, an international agreement, that "protects the plants". I say "protects" with a bit of facetiousness, because most Nepenthes are threatened simply by the booming human development in the Philippines, poaching is just the icing on the extinction cake. Nepenthes rigidifolia is pretty much considered extinct now and if that plant was ever poached, it was would have gone to collects who lived in its native countries (despite what this article may lead you to believe, the majority of people in the hobby who reside in the US condemn poaching, and word of someone smuggling in poached plants often goes around, and others are warned not to purchase or trade with such an individual). You'll still see plenty of people posting from Malaysia with plants that are obviously poached, and people will just absolutely tear into them online, but they will continue to poach anyways. Who knows if they are actually punished by their own government. Our CITES agreement pretty much acts the same way as chewing out a poacher online. If we really want to protect the plants, we'd work with the Malaysian government to better protect their native Nepenthes, but there is not really any good economic reason for that, so it probably won't happen.

Now we've got this article that's probably gonna scare people out of the carnivorous plant hobby, leading newcomers to believe that owning Nepenthes (or even carnivorous plants in general) is an illegal act with serious punishments.

Also, I feel a bit bad that Wistuba is now sort of caught up in this. Wistuba propagates all their plants via tissue culture, and they won't even ship into the US without proper permits, but it has been included in this article as some other joint in the apparent smuggling operation.
2
I have to echo Bob here. I found this article to be written with a very poor understanding of plant laws - it is most definitely NOT illegal to possess these plants, the only legal issues arise from international trade without proper paperwork. People import Nepenthes plants from Europe and even from southeast Asia completely legally all the time since the nurseries selling the plants obey CITES regulations.

I also strongly dislike how the article seems to be implying that this group is meeting for some sort of nefarious purpose - it's simply like-minded plant enthusiasts hanging out at a pub. Nobody else was ever involved with or aware of the criminal activity referenced, and most certainly nobody else was implicated by the investigation.

I am very curious why after that big long investigation and all the apparent evidence why he was only charged with a single Lacey Act violation in the end - that tells me that either the investigation was seriously botched, or that he's not guilty.
3
What sensationalist tripe. It reads like a 1980s PSA against drugs, and has about as many facts. I don't know where to begin.

First of all, one man smuggles plants and you've painted an entire field with the same brush. Even the basic description of what a pitcher plant is has been worded in a way that makes it sound like you should keep your children indoors. They're plants that trap and eat insects. That's about it. Granted, you took a direct quote from another source but you chose to play up the dark undertones of it.

Next you repeatedly described this quiet group of botanists, and enthusiasts everywhere, as if they're shady dealers meeting in dark holes in the wall. There's nothing nefarious about meeting in a pub and chatting about plants, which is exactly what went on at these meetings. Using Mr. Orchard's casual jokes posted on Facebook about his day dedicated to plants as if he's some sort of disruptive alcoholic is nitpicky at best. You go on to call him an expert, implying that he's some sort of master criminal, but it seems fairly clear that he had nothing heinous in mind. This doesn't excuse his criminal action, he shouldn't have broken the law, but framing him as the next Capone is just silly.

You mention that he brazenly had plants on display in his window, and that he had various equipment set up to care for these plants, and repeatedly implied that he was running a "growing operation", which is a term usually applied to large-scale illegal enterprise, but never mention that none of that is illegal. There are hundreds of species of carnivorous plants that are completely legal in the US today and many require lamps and water to survive. Owning these things is not a sign of criminal activity, especially when most of the plants are legal, common and wonderful.

Special Agent Barna certainly doesn't help. The statement that he "covertly" entered the pub to observe the group is ludicrous. It's a pub, he walked in and sat down. That along with the constant references to plants he can't recognise, the quick assumptions that the things he was seeing were shady, constantly calling it an "operation" and "premises", the confiscation of 377 plants and equipment and references that Mr. Orchard was considering finding a larger residence to accommodate his hobby all make it sound a lot worse than it turned out to be. He talked about Mr. Orchard's apartment as if it was the Little Shop of Horrors. The "guilty before proven innocent" stance culminates to a single line stating that there was only evidence of a single felony. A single felony. I would love to know how many endangered, completely legal plants were killed in the confiscation.

The fact that you never mention that almost everything listed is legal and innocent has to be the worst part. Mr. Orchard offered an N. miranda to Special Agent Barna, an event you casually passed off as if he'd brazenly given contraband to the very man hired to gather evidence on him, but you don't mention that N. miranda is one step away from a common houseplant, available in the plant department of various chain stores across the country. Constantly making it sound like these enthusiasts are creepy weirdos looking to grow dangerous plants in a neighbourhood near you!

This is a hobby that involves science, patience and care, and can be so educational and important. And most of the people doing it are just good people with a love of plants. It's no different from having any houseplants or large garden, apart from a few lamps and a little more reading. And rather than being collectors of rare plants so they can say they owned one before extinction, most of these people are actually conservationists and are responsible for saving many species of plant.

Pepper in some goofy cartoons of people getting eaten by plants and you've successfully soured a wonderful hobby for the next generation. Well done.

4
Terrible article.
1. Wistuba Nursery is owned by Andreas Wistuba. He is in Germany and legally runs a nursery. He has no relation to the criminal mentioned in this article. Get your facts straight.

2. Owning Nepenthes is legal. Buying them is legal. Yes, they are protected by CITES, but in the US there are many resellers of Nepenthes who legally purchase from overseas nurseries using permits. Those overseas nurseries often sell endangered Nepenthes cultivated IN VITRO - this means in a lab using hormones and agar, not by ripping them from the jungle. They are not violating the law. This article makes it sound like Matt and every other person who merely OWNS Nepenthes, ANY Nepenthes, is breaking the law, when they are most certainly not. It is legal to own "“what appeared to be live pitcher plants in plain view in a window box” of his fourth floor unit." It is also legal to have grow lights and a growing operation in one's own home. Plenty of people do so for certain plants. Obviously marijuana is illegal to grow in many states but Nepenthes are not cannabis.

3. Most Nepenthes growers are law-abiding citizens who enjoy growing the plants. They strongly condone poaching in all forms, domestic and international.

Overall this is sensationalist writing trying to make it sound like all carnivorous plant growers are shady people who care little for nature and the law, when this is simply not true. Absolutely awful article.
5
This is terrible journalism completely unconcerned with presenting an accurate portrayal of the Moon and Sixpence meetup and laws surrounding plants. It's apparent that this author chose to manufacture a shadowy portrait of the meetups in an attempt to make their story more sensational, not to present a news story in a truthful and responsible manner. About the fish and wildlife officer who was offered a miranda cutting...woopty doo. I have a confession to make - I've grown a miranda purchased from Home Depot until it was 6ft tall then took cuttings and gave them away. I guess you better cuff me now because apparently this is some kind of shady behavior.

Lumping in the meetup with news of one individual's actions is like me accusing every contributor to the Mercury of having low journalistic standards just because this one article is so underhanded and misleading.

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