Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 09:56:20 -0700 (PDT) From: Chris Teichreb <cjt@sfu.ca> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1630$foo@default> Subject: Re: Home Depot, Etc.
Hi all,
>
> >Has anyone considered or, better yet, investigated the origin of the plants
> >> they sell?
> Dustin:
> Buy the plants and let them live. The possibility of harvesting plants
> from the wild and letting them rot in a superstore is one thing, the
> other possibility of harvesting them and keeping them alive, therefore
> possibly producing more plants far outweighs what would become of them if
> they were passed by on one's way out the door.
Couldn't help but reply to this posting. This is completely the
wrong attitude to take. By buying field collected plants, you only
encourage the poachers to go out and continue to collect. Even if you do
buy the plant and reproduce it, the illegal collection would continue
since it's much cheaper to dig them up and sell them to the stores as
compared to the somewhat lengthier procedure of reproducing and getting
the plants to selling size.
It is much better, if you know the plants are field collected, to
let them sit in the store and rot. That way, the store will not buy them
from the illegal poacher, and that person will be out of business or at
least out of some business. You're saving a lot more wild plants if you
let those few illegally collected ones in the store sit and rot. Supply
and demand!
Sorry if I've come off a little harsh. I don't mean any ill will
to anyone, it's just that I've seen the results of 'rescuing' illegally
collected plants, animals (huge industry), and it just does not releive
the pressure on the rest of the population in any way.
Ok, off my soapbox! Happy growing to all.
Regards,
Chris
**********************************
Chris Teichreb
Department of Biological Sciences
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C.
cjt@sfu.ca
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