Dudleya succulent, famous in Asia Pacific region, demand poachers to go extra miles. (Image via: Gardenista)

South Korean Trio Charged for Poaching $860,000 Succulents

SAN DIEGO - Can human ever coexist with nature? Poaching is widely known as a crime where a feature of an animal is taken to be sold. For instance, elephant’s ivory, rhinoceros’ horn, tiger’s skin, or any animals’ feature that can be sold for astronomical price tag. Nowadays, poachers put their attention into plants.

Recently in San Diego, US, 3 men, accused as poachers, were apprehended by wildlife detective for taking succulents in the area in. Although the arrest was made just recently, the wildlife detective had been stalking these poachers’ activities, who turned out to be South Korean natives: Byungsu Kim (44), Youngin Back (45), and Bong Jun Kim (44), since their arrival at Los Angeles Airport in October 2018.

The three men was travelling to Highway 101, California, when the wildlife wardens saw them wandering around the forest with backpacks and rubber bags. Whilst they were communicating through walkie-talkies, wardens caught them red-handed stealing well-known succulents: Dudleya. After having enough evidence, the wardens apprehended the trio, and found 3,700 Dudleya succulents weighed about 300 kg.

The trio then were charged for poaching these succulents to the amount of $860,000.

While the case came into light just recently, the wildlife detective then pointed that this might have been a smaller part to a plant smuggler ring. When the plant is smuggled overseas, they could reach price up to $70 each.

The rising demand of this plant could be caused by social media craze, such as Instagram and Pinterest. When people see the posts containing the pictures of Dudleya succulents, there is this urge to have plants that cannot be found in their native land, said Hilton Carter, the author “Wild at Home: How to Style and Care for Beautiful Plants”. Meanwhile, Patrick Freeling, a warden, stated that the demand mostly come from Japan, S. Korea, and China.

Dudleya succulent can be considered a special type of succulent, since it takes years to mature through rain and heat. Therefore, since its special feature is visible to the naked eyes, it is almost impossible to duplicate this plant.

So, no other way than to go extra miles, in order to take these plants from where they originate.

Source: https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/poachers-accused-of-stealing-860-000-worth-of-instagram-friendly-indoor-plants-20190604-p51u83.html