Pollenatrix

Phrag. Kovachii News Story

If you can stomach another article on the Phrag. Kovachii tale, this is one of the better media news stories I've seen on the subject:

World of intrigue revolves around tale of orchid-napping.

Norris Orchid Saga continues

I've written extensively here about the drama surrounding George Norris and Manuel Arias Silva's troubles with the law. Both are elderly and in ill health, and from what I can gather from those "in the know", they are not big bad orchid smugglers guilty of stripping the wild of rare orchids species, but victims of a complicated web of petty politics, egos, and treachery. Oh, and of their own frustration with nonsensical CITES laws. Apparently, the orchids they "smuggled" were not rare, and were removed from the list of prohibited trade species after their shenanigans. The question remains as to whether the plants in question were collected from the wild, or cultivated at Jose's nursery in Peru.

Orchid smuggler from Spring gets prison time

03:17 PM CDT on Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Associated Press

MIAMI -- A prominent Peruvian orchid grower was sentenced Tuesday to almost two years in federal prison for scheming to smuggle prized tropical lady slipper orchids into the United States.

Manuel Arias Silva will spend one year and nine months in prison for shipping internationally protected wild orchids intermingled with nursery-raised flowers to a Texas dealer several times to feed the desires of high-end hobbyists from 1999 to last year.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz sentenced Arias to the low end of the federal guidelines on his guilty plea to two counts. He admitted shipping 2,050 orchids, including the endangered Phragmipedium species, worth $45,500 from Peru through Miami to suburban Houston.

“Judge Seitz did the best and the fairest she could under the circumstances,” said defense attorney Peter Raben.

The dealer, George W. Norris of Spring, Texas, also has pleaded guilty and faces sentencing Sept. 2. The investigation was based on a tip about Norris offering endangered species for sale on the Internet.

Norris instructed Arias to ship through South Florida because U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors at Miami International Airport were more lax than their counterparts in Houston, according to papers and e-mails seized in the investigation.

Arias, 70, was one of three Peruvian growers with permission to cultivate endangered and newly discovered orchids from recently deforested areas. He apologized in a letter to the judge asking for mercy and noting his “sincere” conservation efforts.

The Peruvian lady slippers, known as “phrags” in collecting circles, are considered seriously endangered in the wild and are protected by international treaty. Nursery-raised varieties can be exported with government permits.

Link: Khou.com, news for Houston, Texas

This post contains an interesting quote from someone who personally knows the Manuel Arias Silva. She says that he is an honourable gentleman, 70 years old and in extremely ill health, who could not speak the language and had a wife at home in Peru who had just undergone a serious operation. Given the situation, he was anxious to plead guilty to whatever the authorities wanted, just to get back home. He has not returned to the U.S., so it will be interesting to see whether the U.S. tries to extradite him and force him to serve his jail term.

And Now There's Only One

A Lady's Slipper orchid has been stolen from a golf course in England, one of the last two of its kind found in the wild in Britain. I wrote about the other one in an earlier post (Cypripedium Treasures), though I note that particular article claimed ITS subject was the only one left in Britain. I guess it makes for dramatic effect, though now I wonder exactly how many "last of its kind" orchids there really are in that country. Well, one or two, the effect is no less devastating, and the story is just as shocking.

July 22 2004 at 12:51PM

London - One of only two living examples of Britain's rarest wild orchid, the lady's slipper, has been stolen from a golf course where it had delighted plant aficionados for 80 years, officials said on Thursday.

The yellow cup-shaped and purple-petalled plant, visited by 900 enthusiasts this year alone, was snatched from Silverdale Golf Course near Morecambe Bay, northwest England.

"We have no idea whether someone has done it deliberately or accidentally," said Keith Smith, secretary of the golf club.

"In the summer when the thing is flowering we have people with tents there just to watch it because it does not happen very often."

English Nature, an environmental watchdog which protected the orchid site for 20 years, is banking on a slim chance that some of its roots may still be in the soil.

"If all the roots have gone, then we will have lost this lovely plant Nall because of someone's mindless selfishness and greed," said Peter Corkhill, an orchid expert from the agency.

Only one other example of the lady's slipper exists in Britain, also in northern England. Visitors, however, are barred from that site for fear of damage to the plant's habitat. - Sapa-AFP

Link: IOL Website
More Articles: Scotsman.com

American Justice

This is sad.... George Norris (see my post of March 30th for the background story) has pleaded guilty to smuggling orchids into the U.S., no doubt because he is old, in ill health, and couldn't afford the legal fees to fight the charges. The article makes him out to be a bad guy, but, unless there's some shocking new evidence, he's just a crusty old guy who tried to take a short-cut to get around some (universally agreed) nonsensical CITES import rules. Now he faces up to 5 years in jail for each of the seven counts, as well as huge fines.

Texan pleaded guilty to orchid smuggling charges

The forums are overpoweringly silent on the subject, so far. In a classic case of shutting the barn door after the horse has escaped, the Orchid Source Forum has moved all conversation regarding George's case to a password-protected area, so that he can vent his spleen in semi-private. I'm sure his online piss and vinegar on the Orchid Source Forum didn't win him any friends with the US Fish & Game people.

What's sad is that I remember George as a loud right-wing supporter of the Bush Administration, the invasion of Iraq -- patriotic to the point of arrogance, quick to take offence at any seeming slight of his beloved country and government. All this on an orchid forum!!! I take no pleasure in seeing how this proud man has been reduced, humiliated, and betrayed by a system and country he so loves. Bad news.

Controversy over orchid settled with guilty plea

Finally, this is settled! Lots of politics involved in this one, but I guess the fellow just wanted to get it over with.

Facing felony charges in a smuggling case involving Selby Botanical Gardens, Michael Kovach pleads guilty to lesser charges.

Online Orchid Drama Eclipses Reality TV...

George Norris, a crusty old orchid grower from Texas, has yet again found himself squarely in the sights of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as well as the Department of Homeland Security.

George, along with his business associate Peruvian grower Manuel Arias-Silver, is charged with conspiracy to smuggle endangered phragmipediums (orchids) into the U.S. Since Manuel is one of only three growers to have been given permission by the Peruvian government to artificially propagate the newly discovered phragmipedium Kovachii, it appears that the U.S. government has singled out the pair for special attention over suspicions that this is the species they were smuggling. There appears to be little evidence of this, though it is likely the pair were taking some shortcuts on paperwork because of the challenges of importing other, legally propagated species, into the U.S.

In the orchid world, the CITES treaty is almost universally denounced; the charge is that it does nothing to stop habitat destruction, and actually encourages illegal smuggling of wild-collected plants because the regulations make it so difficult to trade in artifically-propagated specimens.

George originally found himself in his government's crosshairs last year, after sending out a newsletter to his customers mentioning the Peruvian government's decision to allow three respected Peruvian growers to propogate the orchids, raising the possibility that they would be available legally for sale in the United States within the next few years. Considering that his information came directly from Manuel, with whom he had done business many times, the newsletter reference was not unreasonable. However, Eric Christenson, the taxonomist who was still severely disgruntled over losing the race to name the species, was one of the recipients of the newsletter. He forwarded the message on to the F&WS suggesting they investigate the "rumours". A couple of months later, the F&WS raided George Norris' greenhouse. Then, Manuel was arrested by authorities on his way to a major international orchid show in Miami on March 5th. The F&WS, strongly criticised by the orchid community for their heavy-handed tactics, released the contents of private email they secretly intercepted between the two men to the media, in an apparent attempt to garner favourable public opinion.

Support continues to be strong for George and Manuel, but the situation looks grim for the two men. An outspoken and "patriotic American", George's growing sense of betrayal and disillusionment with his beloved right-wing government has been painful to behold. The obvious stress is taking it's toll, resulting in a particularly spectacular flame-war on the Orchid Guide Digest list between Eric Christenson ("I will begin immediate legal action against [the Orchid Digest List] for allowing this filth on your website") and George Norris (accusing Eric of hot air and eating too many Krispy Kremes). It's an online version of the worst kind of reality TV, kind of like watching a train wreck in slow-motion.

Then, just when the name-calling and threats were threatening to take over the entire tone of discussion, along comes Oliver Sparrow to the rescue, like the orchid super-hero he is....

New Zealand Orchid Poachers Avoid Jail

The two Czech men who attempted to smuggle native orchids out of New Zealand have avoided jail, but have found themselves saddled with "hefty" fines of $7500 plus court costs.

My first reaction was that the fines are not particularly "hefty", but consider this: One, a cardiologist and university dean, makes $39,000 a year in his native Czechoslovakia and has savings of $9000. The other, a Czech Government environmental protection agency inspector and Orchid society president (can you believe it??) earns $24,000 and has savings of $8000. Remind me not to seek my fortunes in Czechoslovakia.

Though one would assume from their careers that they possess a certain degree of smarts, it turns out that these two arrogant and bumbling idiots are not the brightest light bulbs in the pack:

"Before they arrived in New Zealand they had sent the DoC (Department of Conservation) an e-mail outlining their trip and asking permission to take the orchids. That request was refused and to take the plants after that was a deliberate act. "

No means no, fellas! But it was nice of you to announce your intentions -- the natural world would be much easier to defend if all poachers were as accommodating.

Blossom bandits

Homeowners in a California town are being plagued by the theft of blooms and even entire plants from local gardens and yards: "'The police told me that these people steal plants and flowers and then make them into bouquets or arrangements and sell them,' Byrne said. 'Other people use them for decorations at parties and weddings. I guess it's a fairly common thing.' "

The nerve of some people is beyond belief. Even my church, St. Stephen-in-the-Fields on College Street West, suffers from this kind of attention. It has gone on so long, parishioners have practically given up trying to keep the garden along the front of the building looking pretty. New plants generally last less than a week before someone in the neighbourhood digs them up and takes them home; some have had the the cheek to dig up half a plant, probably thinking they weren't doing something quite so bad if they left a bit for the rest of us. I've been tempted to sneak in some poison ivy, but I guess that's not very Christian, is it? ;-) One wonderful lady in the parish hit on the idea of putting native plants in the garden -- grasses, and wildflowers like milkweed. It seems to work; they either grow really fast and fill in the bare spots, or, no one wants them.

I still like my poison ivy idea.

Ontario: A Place to Grow

      A very funny video spoof from the CBC - Rick Mercer's Monday Report.

No doubt this comes out of the recent discovery of a gigantic grow-op inside a former brewery in Barrie, north of Toronto:

"There aren't enough people in Ontario to consume the amount of marijuana produced in (Ontario) grow houses.", says Ontario Provincial Police investigator Vaughn Collins.

Thanks for the laugh, Dad!

Orchid Smuggling Drama in New Zealand

More details are coming out about the case of the two orchid smugglers recently arrested in New Zealand, and the story is quite interesting.

"Dr Ian St George, convenor of the New Zealand native orchid group, said word had gone out on their "amateur grapevine" about a suspicious pair of orchid hunters asking to be guided to the flowers since before Christmas. Members were asked not to do so.

Dr St George said there were about 150 native orchids, with about 20 that were "vanishingly rare".

One, known as either Corybas or Anzybas Carsei could be found only in one Waikato swamp which he refused to name. Known as the Swamp Helmet, it is about the size of a fingernail, completely dark maroon and is described by Dr St George as "the closest we have to an All Black orchid". It would be too hard for them to find, given only one man knew the way through waist-deep bog and it was only in flower for two weeks of the year in September.

He had not seen it himself and it has been rarely photographed.

...The type of orchids the men had allegedly smuggled would be a strong pointer to whether any smugglers had received local help. He would be "absolutely disgusted" if they had. "

The two men are from Czechoslovakia, and they are no ordinary common thiefs:

"...Cihalik is dean of the medicine school at the 430-year-old Palacky University in Olomouc. ... (He) is a cardiologist specialising in the electrophysiological activity of the heart. He is the author of an extensive electrocardiogram atlas. He is married to a researcher of botanical genetics. His two adult sons are art historians involved in the conservation of cultural monuments.

Smitak is a public servant from Brno, 78km southeast of Olomouc.There he is the chairman of the Society of Tropical Orchid Growers and of the Friends of European Wild Orchids.

The pair have surrendered their passports as part of their bail conditions. "