Wild collected orchids
Just some random thoughts... So today I was buying groceries in my nearby "tianguis" (open air market that sets up during a specific day of the week) and noticed someone was selling orchids. I noticed from afar a lot of Prosthechea vitellina, Prosthechea radiata and Euchile citrina in full bloom (I've been looking for them, but I've only found seedlings). I got really excited and asked for their price. Just $30 pesos (less than 2 dollars). That's really cheap even for Mexican orchids. I looked closely. They were wild orchids, the people selling them were clearly indígenas. I just walked away. I didn't know what to do or tell them. I know that my local orchid society warns us against buying wild orchids, because that will only cause people to collect more and more wild orchids to sell. I feel bad for the indígenas, cause they're only trying to make a living selling something that a lot of people crave (and most of them are living in extreme poverty). But I feel really angry that they're slowly driving a lot of Mexican orchids to extinction. Do you have similar problems in your country? What is your government doing? What should I do the next time I see something like that happen again?
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