Plants 'in protective custody'

2005-10-18 08:00

Derek Alberts

Pietermaritzburg - Thieves have targeted the Botanical Gardens' valuable collection of cycads in three separate raids, forcing the institution to place the endangered plants in protective custody.

A total of 12 plants were removed under the cover of darkness by the thieves who stole six cycads last Saturday night, among them two priceless Encephalartos lehmannii.

Curator Brian Tarr estimated that the pair of lehmanniis were between 70 and 80 years old and were taken by thieves, probably with the help of a collector.

Tarr said the plants are about 50cm tall and would have required several people to move them.

"The fact that the leaves were not cut (to make removal easier) suggest to us that the thieves were hoping to sell them to a collector who may or may not be part of the theft," he said.

Also taken were four 10-year-old cycads - an Encephalartos friderici-guiliemli and three Encephalartos aemulans, commonly known as a "wolkop".

However, the first raid netted among the most valuable plants of the garden's cycad collection, two suckers of Encephalartos eugene-maraisii.

"These plants, discovered by a famed poet and naturalist, are extremely rare and seldom are found in unprotected areas," said Tarr.

It was after the theft of these plants that the garden's other rare cycads were moved to a secure location.

'We now have to hide these plants...'

Undeterred, the thieves struck a second time to remove four small Encephalartos lehmannii before the big hit on the six plants.

"We are dumbfounded at their brazenness, and wouldn't have thought that people would go to these lengths," he said.

Tarr expressed his regret at the turn of events, saying the theft is undermining the aims of the gardens, one of eight National Botanical Institutes under the control of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi).

"We now have to hide these plants which runs counter to the educational and social objectives of Sanbi," he said.

Tarr said new long-term measures will have to be considered and that precedents elsewhere will be studied.

"At Kirstenbosch in the Western Cape, the management had to cage their Encephalartos woodii," he said.

Tarr said micro-chipping is only effective in detecting plants that are being moved illegally.

"Unless one has definite information about a plant that has been re-established elsewhere, it is virtually impossible to approach a collector with the aim of verifying micro-chipped plants," said an exasperated Tarr.

The rarity of certain cycads has spawned a flourishing underground trade in these endangered plants, all of which are protected in South Africa.

Any information about the stolen cycads should be conveyed to Tarr at 033 344 3585.

- The Witness