Fighting succulent poachers with sniffer dogs

A boost in the global demand for collectable ornamental’ plants has seen the illegal trade in South African succulents rocket in recent years. Mike Burgess explores a new Endangered Wildlife Trust tactic.

- Mike Burgess

South Africa’s Northern and Western Cape Karoo Biome is being heavily targeted by plant poachers and it is estimated that more than 1,5 million succulents have been removed from the region in the past three years. 

Plants from the Mesembryanthemum, Caudiciform and Conophytum genera especially have been affected.

“There has always been succulent collecting, but there has been a surge in global demand during and since COVID-19 times,’’ said Cobus Theron, programme manager for the Drylands Conservation Programme at the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT). “It is thought that because many people were at home during COVID-19, they had more time to expand their ornamental gardens, thereby increasing demand.’’

The good news is that South Africans are determined to fight back, including the South African state and NGOs like the EWT, which is deploying scent detection dogs to poaching hotspots to find succulents in transit.

FIGHTING BACK