"Mike Owen... is 46 and the park biologist at Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve... has spent the past 13 years immersed in orchids...
Owen is the biologist who busted John Laroche... plant collector... in the book, "The Orchid Thief." Owen caught Laroche and a couple of Seminole natives stealing endangered orchids from Fakahatchee. They trekked into the swamp and came out with garbage bags and pillow cases full of protected plants, and Owen was charged with documenting the crime. He found nearly 90 orchids, some of which he'd never seen in the wild. Owen took them to a cool shed for the night and tried to "replant" them the next day. That was more than a decade ago... thefts still occur. The most recent was only a few weeks ago, and Owen thinks he may eventually find the thief. The orchid was taken from an area that has nearby cameras, and he hopes to match up a license plate number for someone driving on Janes Scenic Drive on Sunday, Oct. 29. He'd seen the ghost orchid that was stolen on the 28th. By the following Monday morning it was gone. ... Owen says. "The really bad part is they probably came out with me. I was really upset about it, so I stopped doing public ghost orchid walks." ... Fakahatchee draws lots of orchid enthusiasts. The plants are unique in the United States in that they can only be found in the wild in South Florida... Fakahatchee... A 75,000-acre state preserve that's home to 44 orchid species" article URL : http://www.bonitanews.com/news/2006/nov/18/one_mans_fakahabit/?around_swfla _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
