Major seed poaching

[amphirion]

good point and example Bella. i should have clarified "in the wild"....

 

[Vbkid]

Not to detract from the point of this thread, but I had actually come across this guy recently, not this specific lot, and had considered buying from him. In light of recent information, I would always want to buy from someone collecting seed legally and as ethically as possible. Can anyone vouch for any specific venders that people might be better off considering? I know naming sellers is against forum rules, but it seems as if steering people away from shady dealers is important, so at the very least maintain a list of people NOT to buy from?
my $.02
-Kyle

 

[amphirion]

Vb: not this forum. But other forums do...

 

[richjam1986]

I haven't read a single post of this thread. But I've gotta ask the obvious.. as long as some seeds are left to keep the wild population going. Is there such thing as seed poaching? I mean.. how else are we supposed to get these plants into the hobby without poaching the plants themselves?

Of course, seeds or plant material innitially need to be taken from the wild (in reasonable amounts); but once the species or variety is estabblished in cultivation, taking large amounts of seeds from the wild may become unsustainable for the plant population and is totally unneeded and irresponsible. This is what TISSUE CULTURE is for!!!! As environmentally responsible 'consumers' of 'plant products' (which hopefully we are), we should be willing to spend a little more on tissue cultured plants to avoid continued disruption to natural population.

Another thing to keep in mind: not all seeds produced in the wild end up germinating and becoming sexually mature plants themselves (which is what is needed). The more seeds you take away, even if you leave many, the less there will be that girminate and reach reproductive maturity. The plants didn't evolve with human seed poaching and upcoming plant generations may be very adversely affected by lowering the net seed production that stays in the wild. With all the other stresses being put on them by humans, why add more stress by being selfish plant hoarders (which I'm not saying you are, but there are A LOT of them out there that don't care how they get their plants, or rationalize behavior that is destructive to plants in the wild).

 

[monkey_Cup]

its tuff to find someone that is trustworthy

 

[TheFury]

crap! i have purchased from this guy before!

not trying to rationalize my purchase in hindsight...i feel like i need to take a big, long, aggressive shower right now...but isn't this all speculation? i know i've seen plenty of threads here before where some very nasty things were said about suspected poachers, but as it turned out, those people were operating on the right side of the law.

of course, without any evidence that what this particular seller is doing is 100% legal, the smart thing to do is avoid them. that's a lesson learned for me. but i would advise folks to exercise a bit of tact in approaching this guy. no need to be a jerk to them before we know that what they're doing is actually wrong.

 

[richjam1986]

Another thing to keep in mind: Not all laws are on the side of environmental sustainablility, so something may be legal and still be bad for the environment, or particular species in this case. At that point you have to make the decision for yourself as to what your values on that are, and stick to your own values. I feel that laws will never come to the point of doing what needs to be done to 'save' our world; only individual conscience and conviction can do that. Laws are important too though

 

[Dexenthes]

Another vendor on ebay that is in need of reporting. I've done so already.

Just search Nepenthes, first page: Selling aristolochioides seeds from the wild.

 

[Vbkid]

Never mind, was looking at the wrong listing, yes it does appear these are wild collected!