Wild collected Phrag Kovachii for sale is still the norm in Peru

[GuRu]

These people should be shot or imprisoned immediately.............

Do you mean this seriously and do you think this will solve the problem ??

 

[peltiergarcia]

It is a 3rd world country and if people know they can make money selling rare plants from the wild to feed their families they will do it.

Question? Why knock negatively on 3rd world countries. It is people like you that fuels a frenzy on 'rarity orchids' that results in plundering. Then, too, Western civilization in the past decades were the very culprits stripping plants in these so-called Third World countries.

 

[Royal Rea]

How am I knocking 3rd world countries mate? Why are you having a go at me for? That thread was 13 months a go, and tell me, has the situation improved in such countries? What are you doing to stop poor people from using the available resources they have to feed their families? I suspect not much.

 

[Stuart Cohen]

I’ve done business in Peru since the days when the Sendero Luminoso was blacking out Lima on a regular basis. The problem with orchids exists with many other commodities, most notably pre-Columbian artifacts. As with wildlife poachers, I don’t believe the collectors deserve a free pass. They know what they are doing is wrong, they are part of networks and it’s relatively easy money, not necessarily a choice of collecting orchids or letting your family starve. I’ve met grave robbers: they are not “evil” people, but they know what they are doing is harmful and do it anyway. They may normalize it by pointing out that the Inca mummies are sometimes found buried in mantas belonging to previous cultures.
That being said, finger-pointing does not solve the problem. I’m sure there is plenty of blame to go around.