Explorers and Smugglers
In 2001, Michael Kovach, an American orchid collector bought a South American slipper orchid from a roadside vendor in Peru. He then smuggled the plant into the USA and brought it to Selby Botanical Gardens in Florida. On receiving the plant, they published a description in a supplement of Selby Botanical Gardens' journal, Selbyana, naming the species Phragmipedium kovachii.
More than 24,000 species of orchid are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). In particular slipper orchids are given extra protection and Kovach and Selby's actions resulted in Kovach receiving 2 years’ probation plus a fine of $1000 and Selby Botanic Gardens saw its CITES permit revoked and received a fine of $5000.
Professional smugglers are mostly interested in the commercial value of plants and have no regard for rarity or conservation efforts. In May 2001, the German Customs authority checked an importation of several hundred orchids. The importer declared that all documents were available but they did not match the entire shipment. Omitted from the documents were 57 plants of the Asian slipper orchid, Paphiopedilum and 141 plants of a very rare Pacific Islands species of Dendrobium.
