# Can I prove I'm not a poacher?



## schmiggle (Aug 2, 2019)

I am thinking of going to Mexico in a few months to try to find Aztekium, Geohintonia, and some other funky cacti, but it's difficult to find useful locality data; most of it is vague to protect from poachers. This is completely legitimate, of course, but makes it difficult for honest people like me. Is there some way for me to prove to the relevant people that I'm not a poacher? I was thinking of asking my undergraduate advisor, who manages a major herbarium, to vouch for me; do y'all think that's likely to work? Is there something else I could do? There are other people I could ask, but no other botanists.


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## The Snark (Aug 2, 2019)

Beware. Fragrant grease dead ahead. Rules and laws made and enforced in accordance to the weight of your wallet. Be aware, being legit in location A may not apply in location B.

A while back I drove a truck across a chunk of Mex. It only had a temporary registration. It was okay in Nogales, cooled my jets for 2 days in Puerto something while they ruminated how legit my truck was, got fined in Mexicali for not having the correct paperwork and they wouldn't let my truck back across the border in Tijuana.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## pannaking22 (Aug 2, 2019)

If your advisor has some contacts in a Mexican university that would help immensely. In general, if you don't have someone down there already you're in for a potentially less than pleasant time.


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## schmiggle (Aug 2, 2019)

The Snark said:


> Beware. Fragrant grease dead ahead. Rules and laws made and enforced in accordance to the weight of your wallet. Be aware, being legit in location A may not apply in location B.
> 
> A while back I drove a truck across a chunk of Mex. It only had a temporary registration. It was okay in Nogales, cooled my jets for 2 days in Puerto something while they ruminated how legit my truck was, got fined in Mexicali for not having the correct paperwork and they wouldn't let my truck back across the border in Tijuana.





pannaking22 said:


> If your advisor has some contacts in a Mexican university that would help immensely. In general, if you don't have someone down there already you're in for a potentially less than pleasant time.


All good information--thanks for the help.

To be clear, I'm not trying to ask government officials for permission or anything--none of the areas I'm looking at are protected in any way. My intention is to ask, say, the guy on iNaturalist with photos of the species of interest or the guy who runs the blog "married to plants" for more exact locality information. After that, the logical next step would be seeing if those people would want to go around looking for cacti with me, but I have to approach them somehow.


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## Galapoheros (Aug 3, 2019)

Maybe you already found this site.  https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/152643/121482467  Vague but I kind of like that, it makes me look around more so I'm forced to see other things I might have missed.


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## BenWilly (Aug 4, 2019)

This site says some locations in the notes section  http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/CACTI/Family/Cactaceae/4248/Aztekium_ritteri 
and tells almost exact location for this species in the habitat section, dont know if this helps or you seen it
http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/CACTI/Family/Cactaceae/11571/Geohintonia_mexicana


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