Cactus Thieves Plague Arizona’s Deserts
Many species of cactus grow only in the American southwest, but demand in markets from Europe and Asia has pushed thieves to steal the slow-growing plants from public lands.
Arizona’s deserts are home to the world’s densest forests of towering saguaro cacti. These cactus grow up to 50 feet during their lifespan, which can last as long as two hundred years. However, these stoic giants face a pervasive threat — poachers who dig them up under the cover of darkness to resell on a growing worldwide cactus black market.
Saguaros only grow in a small area, 120,000 square miles in the Sonoran Desert spanning sections of Arizona, California, and Sonora. The column-like cactus usually grows at least a few arms and sprouts yellow and white flowers, called saguaro cactus blossoms, Arizona’s state flower. Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona has one of the largest collections, with an estimated one million saguaros currently in the park. Large saguaros often weigh over 2000 pounds, making their removal difficult. So cactus rustlers target smaller saguaros that are between four and seven feet tall, which takes 30 to 50 years to grow. The cactus usually sell for about $100 per foot.
