The Problem With Fly Trap Poaching

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Fly trap poachers are making out like a bandit, says Officer Dean. The Nature Conservancy is trying to learn more about the market in order to pressure lawmakers to help protect the plant. It's unclear how much weight there is behind the state level efforts to make fly trap poaching a felony. There's a possibility the plants will become even rarer.

Every year for the past few years, tens of thousand of flytraps have gone missing – from the wild, from gardens, from nurseries. And, really, nobody knows where they go. What’s cropped up in rural North Carolina is essentially a Venus Flytrap crime ring — with lackies, middle men, and a mysterious end buyer who’s perpetuating the market.

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