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suspected eBay poacher

Millipede

Millipede

I ordered some drosera rotundifolia from a guy on eBay and I suspect they were poached. They came in sphagnum with some typical detritus and even found a baby leech in it. The plants themselves were unkempt and missing parts of their root system. As well as being very stout, and having very stiff almost woody flower stems. All things not typical of plants being grown inside under lights. Im being coy right now and asked him what nursery he works for since he has a couple other listings available for large quantities of intermedia and purpurea.. All three of his listings are for plants native to Massachusetts where he's from.

Not sure how to take it from here
 
Can you pm me the sellers name ? I may know who it is.
 
Did the seller advertise that the plants were grown indoors under lights? Personally I wouldn't waste time, effort and electricity on rotundifolia or any of the other mentioned species when I can set them and forget them outside.
 
Does he also have a mass amount of purpea for sale?
 
well, I grow my cold-temperates outside. Pretty sure if I shipped them to you, they would look just as suspect. There is lots of other ambient animal and plant life in my bog, including spag, and weeds, and slugs.

It could also be a property owner trying to cash in on the stuff growing on his own lot.

Or they could be poached.
 
I've asked him to provide photo evidence of his grow area and plants
 
It's only poaching if the plants were obtained illegally. If they were "ethically" collect from the wild is a different question. Ethically collected - minimal impact on the genetic diversity or survivability of the population in question.

None of the species in question including Sphagnum are protected in Massachusetts. The story is different in some other NE states. They may be protected under local ordinances but you would need to know where they were take from.

http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/df...st/list-of-rare-species-in-massachusetts.html
 
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It does you no good to chase down ebay poachers. Ebay doesnt care, and multiple efforts have been made to take down listings, but nothing ever happens. Just look at the nepenthes seeds that litter ebay listings.
 
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