Dennis Moore, cycad theft and carnivorous plants

More carnivorous plants - here the venus flytrap and some different video of the Pitcher Plant.


Also, Bruce mentioned Cycad theft being a problem. There are several articles online about this. Here's one from California. I'm curious how you would go about selling a large stolen cycad. In the movies they always pass stolen goods through pawn shops (in the US) or sell them in a pub (in the UK). Both of these venues seem appropriate for a stolen video camera or watch but not for a large, and spiky, plant you are trying to sell for thousands of dollars.

The article suggests that ' thieves may be stealing to fill orders for an international black market most active in supplying collectors in the United States, Mexico, the Bahamas and South Africa.'

Somehow I find this international black market in a somewhat obscure group of gymnosperms hard to imagine. It's almost pythonesque. 'It's a holdup not a botany lesson.' I wonder what else there is a thriving international black market in that I am totally unaware of?