"Over the years Little has watched as the population of these cacti disappear from the landscape of the Chihuahuan desert. The living rock cactus is not alone. There are 1,480 species of cacti but almost a third are now threatened, Little said. In part it’s the loss of their natural habitat to humans, but more and more it’s the black market." Texas’s cactus cops battle to save rare desert beauty from smuggling gangs
Thanks, @togaga57. How discouraging is that? Yet, it's amazingly encouraging that the police treat this as a serious threat. Yet, it's discouraging that we can't get people to treat the loss of carbon dioxide as a serious threat. People get motivated by something tangible, where their action can be seen to have an effect. Yet you can't take a big problem and make it simple enough that people can get their head around it without reducing it to an absurd simplicity.
Hi can I just say, as someone who was very involved in investigating these types of matters in the UK, that if wildlife and countryside crimes are reported, they are investigated thoroughly. The problem for police forces world wide is evidence in matters relating to flora and fauna. No evidence equals a filed crime, something a lot of people to this day do not understand. Secondly, a lot of people do not think it serious enough to report and comments like " the police already have enough to do" is an often heard remark when talking about flora especially. In the UK Full time Country Watch Police Officers, are so 'very' keen to investigate everything that is reported to them as it appears the US officers are. So my point is, if you see or suspect a crime regarding the countryside, flora or fauna 'DO REPORT IT'.
