Cycad poachers strike in Amanzimtoti
These plants have been prized by poachers because of the demand and their ability to increase in monetary value.
AN AMANZIMTOTI resident said she received the shock of her life after coming to learn that someone had tried to uproot and steal a cycad plant in her garden.
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Marlene Grobbelaar said on Monday, January 10, she was alerted by her gardener that the plant was damaged.
“This probably happened over the weekend at night and I wasn’t aware as I had not been in that part of the garden,” said Marlene.
Upon close inspection, it was evident that someone had tried to uproot it.
“This cycad is about 40-years-old and it’s not small. I’m just dumbfounded how could anyone think they could easily uproot it,” she said, adding that she did not expect it to survive for long because of the damage.
Although she did not open a case with the police, she notified the security company which came and did an inspection. With the black market thriving, some individuals in the Greater Durban area sell these plants on Facebook for as much as R18 000.
Adele Jolliffe of Illovo Nursery, said cycads are on the endangered species plant list and are protected by law.
“Permits are required to move, transport or sell them. All queries and permits are done through Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife permits office in Pietermaritzburg,” she said.
Tilania du Preez of the Cycad Trust, an organisation set up to promote the preservation of the plants by creating botanical gardens, said the reason these plants are widely poached is that they make for beautiful features in a garden.
“They are green the whole year-round and because of the shine on the leaves, they don’t require a lot of water and the big plants can survive on rainwater alone. The value of the plants also increases every year,” she said.
She also said that planting cycads in gardens harms them as different species cross-pollinate, creating new hybrids that are not pure.
“The species are close ‘cousins’ and some species can easily hybridise. Having said that, the species in gardens are now being reproduced on a massive scale, with pollination being done by hand. This alleviates the pressure on the demand,” said Tilania.
An Umgababa resident, who identified himself only as Cele, and has two cycad plants growing in his yard, said he was not aware that he needed a special permission to have them. He said he bought the plants six years ago from a work colleague.
“In our culture, these plants help protect the family from evil spirits. I’m not a superstitious person, but that’s what I grew up being told. If then I need a license to plant them in my home, that should tell you that there is something very special about them that even the authorities know about,” said Cele.
Cycads have been noted as being the oldest seed plants in the world, having appeared some 280 million years ago, about 50 million years before the first dinosaurs. Having survived three Earth’s mass extinctions, their survival in the age of humans looks bleak as of the 38 known South African species, two have been poached to extinction in the wild, surviving only in gardens and nurseries.
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