Authorities search for 2 poachers

BOILING SPRING LAKES — State officers have obtained arrest warrants for two people in a poaching case involving hundreds of Venus flytraps, which grow naturally in the eastern part of the state.

Officers with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission obtained arrest warrants for two people accused of stealing nearly 600 of the rare plants from conservation land in Boiling Spring Lakes, WECT-TV reported. It is not clear if the two have been arrested. Authorities with the Wildlife Resources Commission did not returned messages left by The Associated Press.

Venus flytraps are native to southeastern North Carolina.

“They only grow naturally within a 100-mile radius of Wilmington,” commission Sgt. Matt Criscoe told the news station. “This time of year, they start to bud flowers,” making it easier to find them and prompting increased patrols for poachers.

He said the plants are sold on the black market or locally.

Commission officers responded to a complaint last month about two people digging for flytraps in Boiling Spring Lakes. They were stopped at a local gas station, and officers searched their backpacks. They’re accused of harvesting more than 590 plants, Criscoe said.

The accused have not been publicly identified.

Unauthorized removal of the plants from public or private land is a felony in North Carolina.