Criminal plants – orchid smuggling

In March 2000, Richard Labossière, a Canadian Wildlife Officer, received an unusual call from a Customs Inspector at the Winnipeg International Airport advising that a large and somewhat suspect shipment of orchids had just arrived from Taiwan. He joined forces with an orchid expert and together they identified 211 Paphiopedilum orchids. These are among the most widely cultivated and hybridized of orchid and also an endangered species. After examining the Taiwanese CITES export permit accompanying the shipment, the inspection team noted that the shipper had not included any of the 211 specimens, listing less endangered species instead.

The importer claimed the orchids were hybrids rather than pure Paphs, and since none of the 211 specimens in flower, there was no way of proving that they were endangered species until they flowered, which could take up to two years. As a result, the orchids were confiscated and kept in a huge glass house under police custody! The first orchid, a hybrid, bloomed after three months but in October of 2000, when the second orchid bloomed, it was confirmed as a pure specimen, from a protected species.

During the following winter several more orchids bloomed and all were sent by air to Ottawa for hands-on expert identification. Before long, the Ottawa expert had positively identified 29 of the seized orchids as endangered species.

In February 2002, the business and all three board members of the corporation were charged with numerous counts under the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (WAPPRIITA) as well as the Customs Act. Though the flowers had been identified as a rare species, a challenge remained for the Ottawa experts who had yet not proved that the orchids came from wild stock. Photographs of all 211 plants were sent to world renowned plant experts at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, and the CITES Secretariat in Switzerland. In December 2002, Mr. Labossière received a detailed report in which all three experts pointed out leaf damage, leaf discoloration, old leaf growth and root damage to the flowers, confirming that the plants had been plucked from the wild.

Faced with this evidence, the Ever Spring Orchid Nursery Ltd. pleaded and was convicted of illegally importing endangered orchids into Canada. The company was fined a total of $15,000, of which $5,000 was earmarked for a non-profit group to build an educational display at the Winnipeg Plant Conservatory to house the seized orchids. The display educates the public on orchid conservation.

Orchid photograph by Ctd 2005, used under a creative commons attribution licence

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