Cactus Cops
Mike rimer calls himself a ‘Cactus Cop’, much to the chuckle sometimes of those he meets. But in this region of the country and to those who sanctify succulents, busting poachers who thrive on saguaros for example, can be as important as catching thief nabbing a diamond necklace. You see, they can stand nearly 50-feet tall and in other cases, hug the arid sands of the Sonoran Desert that stretches from southwest Arizona into Mexico. Each one of these cacti, a prickly testament to a life without much water. But while thriving in some of the most difficult conditions on earth, cactus now face something more dangerous than urban sprawl…poachers who dig them out of the ground for prices into the thousands of dollars.
According to Rimer, these modern day rustlers wrap the cacti in carpet or heavy rugs/blankets to protect themselves and the dig up the roots and walk away with the whole thing. Across the border, stealing ocotillos , saguaros, barrel cacti among others has become an epidemic, with some areas of the desert nearly picked clean. Mexico has cracked down by stopping all exportation, but that’s if you catch the thieves. And the people buying these stolen succulents aren’t just Americans looking to spruce up the front yard, but more often foreigners from as far away as Japan and Germany. Here’s a behind the scenes video and a picture I snapped last night. The video is with Tony Apricella of Cherry Landscape here in Tucson. He is an artist in the yard and he knows his cacti!
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