Pleads Guilty to Trafficking Venus Flytraps U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service photo by J.D. Pittillo Ted Allan Minton of Thurman, North Carolina, pleaded guilty on November 2, in a Baltimore Federal Court to conspiracy in the trafficking of carnivorous plants. He sold Venus flytraps that had been illegally taken from the wild in eastern North Carolina to international plant dealers in Holland. A victim of its own popularity, the Venus flytrap is prized by collectors worldwide.
Consumer demand fuels the marketplace and contributes to the depletion of wild populations.
They eventually unraveled this case, which also involves two men from Holland. A plant nursery owner, Minton, age 50, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act by trafficking the flytraps. In addition, the Lacey Act makes it illegal to possess or transport fish, wildlife, or plants by interstate or foreign commerce in violation of State or Federal law. Moreover, any plant to be exported from the United States must be accompanied by a U.S. Department of Agriculture phytosanitary certificate ensuring the plants' roots are clean, with no diseases. In January 1996, Hendrikus Lommerse from Holland took about 9,000 flytraps that had been taken from the wild to Minton's nursery.