Story and photographs by Richard Labossiere

     Having been a wildlife enforcement officer for over 20 years, I have seen just about everything when it comes to the illegal take, possession and smuggling of wildlife. I must say that this particular two-year investigation into the smuggling of rare and endangered Asian Tropical Lady Slipper Orchids was by far the most interesting and demanding. 

    It all started on March 2, 2000 at the Winnipeg International Airport in Manitoba, Canada. I received a call from a Canada Customs Inspector that a very large shipment of orchids had just arrived at air cargo. The customs inspector indicated that the importer of record was a local orchid nursery by the name of Ever Spring Orchid Nursery and that the country of export on record was Taiwan. Having already finished my morning cup of coffee, I decided to head over to the airport and take a closer look at these intriguing plants. During the short drive to the airport it dawned on me that I knew very little about orchids and knew even less with respect to the identification of these plants. I needed to find someone who could assist me in the identification of the orchids and could do so on plants without blooms. There were over 2,000 of these little plants in the shipment. 

    I managed to find someone from the Manitoba Orchid Society in Winnipeg to assist me in the identification of the orchids. During my telephone conversation with the orchid expert, I was informed that we would likely find some Appendix I Lady Slipper (Paphiopedilum species) orchids in the shipment. I knew the Paph species were Appendix I under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) but how on God’s green earth did this fellow know there would likely be some of these highly endangered orchids in this shipment? I may be slow but the light bulb finally came on that this company must have previously imported some of these highly prized and very rare orchids into Winnipeg. That was why the orchid enthusiast had an inkling that something interesting might be waiting for us at air cargo.

Shipping containers bound for
Ottawa – closed and opened.

     Accompanied by my inspection kit, a few books on orchid identification, my orchid expert, a Canada Customs Inspector and my green thumb, we dove right into 13 boxes of orchids, looking for anything out of the ordinary. After opening the second box in the shipment and spreading out some of the plants, we noted some very small, leafy bare root orchids. These plants appeared to have been sandwiched in between much larger orchids inside the box. My orchid expert quickly hollered out, “Those are Paph species.” 

    Yes, that’s what I thought. I did not let on at the time that I was somewhat naïve about orchid identification and went on my merry way setting these 30 some suspect orchids aside for further analysis. My orchid expert explained why he felt the orchids in question were Paph species and then decided that the Customs Inspector and I knew enough to continue the inspection by ourselves. Truth be known, our orchid expert suspected that the importer would likely be coming around shortly to pick up his plants and he really did not want to be around when the manager of the business arrived. I found out very quickly that orchid enthusiasts all seem to know each other and that the orchid moccasin telegraph is functioning just fine. 

    We discovered 211 Paph orchids in the shipment and, when we compared the Taiwanese CITES export permits to the shipment, we noted that the shipper had not included any of them on the permits. However, there were 211 Cypripedium formosanum orchids listed on the accompanying CITES paperwork. Since the Cypripedium is an Appendix II orchid under CITES, only a Taiwanese export permit would be required to import these particular orchids into Canada. It became apparent to us that somebody was trying to pull the wool over our eyes in an attempt to bring into Canada these endangered lady slipper orchids. Before too long, the manager of the orchid nursery in question was at air cargo hoping to pick up his prized plants. 
When he saw a couple of uniformed officers rifling through his orchids, he knew something was up. After having read him the Caution and Charter, I asked him why the Paph orchids were in the shipment. He began by denying knowledge of their existence in the shipment and then decided his best defence was to claim that the Paphs were not species but rather hybrids. If the plants were indeed hybrids, they would have been downgraded to Appendix II under CITES. I chose to seize all 211 Paph orchids as well as 538 hybrid orchids used to conceal the Appendix I plants in three separate boxes. Taking advantage of a good relationship with the Winnipeg Plant Conservatory I left the seized plants in their care. The Conservatory quickly set up a separate greenhouse to house the plants and I installed individual serial numbered tags onto each of the Paph’s. Within a few days I also shipped 18 of the Paphs to the Calgary Zoo for care and control. You don’t put all your eggs in one basket; likewise, you don’t put all your seized orchids in one greenhouse. 

    I thought this would be an open and shut case. NOT! Because all 211 Paph orchids were void of flowers, there was absolutely no way of proving that these plants were CITES Appendix I listed species. After having consulted with numerous experts on orchid identification, I quickly found out that the only way I could prove that these orchids were pure species was to wait for them to flower, which I was also told could take up to two years to occur. DNA analysis was not an option because none of the forensic labs anywhere in the world (I know because I think I called every single one of them) had orchid DNA capabilities. The waiting game was on. Fortunately, it took only three months for the first of the seized Paphs to bloom. A second Paph bloomed in October of 2000. The first bloom was identified as a Paphiopedilum conco-bellatulum. I learned that this is a natural hybrid from the wilds of China. This identification also led me to believe that these Paph’s may have been wild collected rather than grown from seed in a greenhouse. The second plant that bloomed was a Paphiopedilum armeniacum – a pure species and definitely Appendix I under CITES. Unfortunately, during a weekend evening when the greenhouses were closed, an orchid enthusiast decided he or she should collect this very beautiful Paph armeniacum. The following day I went to the Winnipeg Police Department to report that someone had stolen my flower. After the police officers had finished chuckling they started an investigation file on the orchid theft. After word got out in the orchid underworld that Winnipeg’s finest were looking for an orchid thief, the flower mysteriously returned to the conservatory, less the flower. The flower had been cut off from the plant and only the pot and plant (complete with seizure tag) remained. I decided that further security measures were needed to ensure that future orchid thefts would not occur. I quickly purchased two very large wire dog kennels and all seized Paphs were placed in the two locked kennels. This was another first for me having to put orchids under lock and key so that they did not walk away. 

    During the winter of 2000/2001 numerous Paphs managed to bloom and all were sent by air to Ottawa for hands on expert identification. Before long, the Ottawa expert who identified the plants had positively identified 29 of the seized orchids as Paphiopedilum conco-bellatulum, Paphiopedilum armeniacum, Paphiope- dilum micranthum, Paphiopedilum bellatulum and Paphiopedilum malipoense – all listed as CITES Appendix I.             

Shipping containers at air cargo. 		  
 Paphs found in shipping container.
During the course of the next year and a half, a total of five cautioned interviews were taken from the importer and search warrants were executed at the place of business, the residence and the company vehicle associated with Ever Spring Orchid Nursery Ltd. Computer records were subsequently analyzed and numerous individuals were interviewed. Seized records showed that three prior Paph imports from Taiwan had taken place dating back to 1997. In February of 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. Even after we had laid all the charges, one thing still bothered me; even though we could prove that these were species and not hybrids, all of my Canadian experts were reluctant to say beyond a shadow of a doubt that the seized Paphs were from wild stock. To me this was important. If I could show the courts that the plants had been collected from the wild rather than being greenhouse grown, it would go a long way in securing heavier penalties against the smugglers. 

    Patience paid off because in November of 2002, I was blessed with the opportunity to attend COP 12 in Santiago, Chile. This international CITES conference takes place somewhere in the world every two or three years, and I had whined long and hard enough that my boss decided to ship me down to Chile for the two week conference. Fortunately, I had taken my laptop with me and, once I arrived in Santiago, I came across Dr. Noel McGough from the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) in England and Ger Van Vliet from the CITES Secretariat in Switzerland. Both are world renowned with respect to their knowledge of plants, and once I had shown them some of the digital pictures of the seized orchids, both quickly suggested that the plants were indeed wild collected. 

Leaf discoloration (top) leaf damage(bottom).

 

Since I only had a dozen or so pictures of the seized Paphs on my computer hard drive, both experts requested I send them and Dr. Philip Cribb from the RBG my complete digital photo inventory of the 211 seized orchids. 

    In December 2002, I received a detailed report authored by the three experts explaining, plant by plant, why they believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that the plants in question had been taken from the wild, put into a greenhouse setting for one or two years and then shipped to Canada. The experts pointed out leaf damage, leaf discoloration on old leaf growth as well as root damage indicating that the plants had been originally plucked from the wild. 

    Armed with this expert documentation on wild collection, it was not long before Ever Spring Orchid Nursery decided to plead guilty to WAPPRIITA and Customs Act charges. On July 31, 2003 Ever Spring Orchid Nursery (Manitoba) Ltd. was fined a total of $15,000 in provincial court in Winnipeg. They were convicted of illegally importing endangered orchids into Canada and falsely declaring the plants on import. The courts also determined that $5,000 would go to the nonprofit group “Friends of the Conservatory”, to build an educational display at the Winnipeg Plant Conservatory in order to house the seized orchids. The display would be used as a venue to educate the public on orchid conservation. The corporation was also ordered to display CITES informational pamphlets in their greenhouse showroom for a three year period. The final court order stipulated that Ever Spring Orchid Nursery contact the Canadian Wildlife Service at least three days in advance of any future orchid imports by their company. 

    Over the course of the lengthy investigation, I managed to speak to just about everyone in the orchid world (well, it felt like it). I received tremendous assistance from orchid experts in many countries, both enforcement and non-enforcement personnel, and without the assistance of these individuals this investigation would have likely fizzled. To date, this orchid smuggling prosecution has been the largest such case in Canada. 

    As a result of this investigation, I’ve learned more than I’d ever wanted to know about orchids. Co-workers and friends have dubbed me “Officer Orchid”. I would have preferred a more masculine handle but beggars can’t be choosers.

Richard Labossiere is a Wildlife Investigator 
with the Canadian Wildlife Service in 
Winnipeg, Manitoba.