Earlier this month four men were arrested for poaching on the Holly Shelter Game Land preserve in North Carolina. Their arrest made national headlines, and history, as they became the first people charged with a felony for stealing Venus flytrap plants (Dionaea muscipula) from the wild. The crime, until last December, was considered to be a mere misdemeanor with a maximum $50 fine. “People would get a slap on the hand in court, and they didn’t care,” Crane says. “They came out of court grinning.” A new law that went into effect on December 1 should help change that. Stealing Venus flytraps is now a felony, punishable by 25 to 39 months in jail “They’re not making much money off of it. They’re selling the bulbs for maybe 25 cents. It’s an incredibly stupid thing that they’re going to wipe out this wonderful thing in nature.” blogs.scientificamerican/extinction-countdown/2015/01/22/venus-flytraps-poachers
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 08:41:33 +0000