>
>> VENUS FLYTRAP SNARES A SMUGGLING CHARGE: On February 2, 1996, a Dutch
>> citizen was released on $50,000 bond after being arrested at Baltimore-
>> Washington International Airport on charges of trying to smuggle 9,000
>> Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) seedlings into the Netherlands.
>> Prosecutors said that Hendrikus Lommerse was arrested on January 31, 1996,
>> after U.S. Customs and wildlife agents, acting on a tip, opened Lommerse's
>> suitcase and found the 9,000 seedlings. The Venus flytrap is listed on
>> Appendix II of CITES, and it is illegal to export an Appendix II species
>> from the United States without a CITES export permit.
>>
>Though I know nothing about this case the fact that you write about
>seedlings implies that the plants are cultured and NOT taken from the
>wild. If this is the case, it's just another case when CITES
>authorities completely overreacted and prosecuted somebody only to present
>results for only formal reasons (no valid documents.....).
>As long as threatened plants are protected by such braindead
>formalists, they will continue to fade away from dying locations.
>
>Andreas
>
Such were my thoughts. 9,00 seedlings sounds like 9,000 cultured plants.
Which makes me wonder about the "tip" to the authorities. I had heard a
rumor that dogs are used in Hawaii at the International Airport to sniff out
plants in people's luggage. Not dope, but plants. Who would have called the
authorities? The guy who sold him the plants? But then again, perhaps they
weren't cultured. Does anyone know more about this?
..
John Phillips Email: phillips@library.ucsf.edu
Information Services
UCSF Health Sciences Library Rm 202
San Francisco, CA 94143-0840
Ph:(415) 476-8383 FAX:(415) 476-7940
John Phillips Email: phillips@library.ucsf.edu
Information Services
UCSF Health Sciences Library Rm 202
San Francisco, CA 94143-0840
Ph:(415) 476-8383 FAX:(415) 476-7940