Plant poacher punished

Last week, US citizen Kalman Kaminar was sentenced in the Cape Town magistrate’s court to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for five years on condition that he was not convicted for illegal possession of protected succulent plants in that period.
He was also fined R500,000, declared an undesirable person and banned from entering SA.
This is the result of an arrest made by CapeNature officials in November 2019 after catching Kaminar and his succulent plant tour guide, David Cummings in the Robertson area.
At the time of their arrest, Kaminar was found with 354 plants, of which 337 were protected. Others were found at a guesthouse he was staying in, raising the total of plants obtained without permission to 738 — valued at R780,902.
Further investigation revealed that Kaminar arrived in the country on October 29 2019 on a guided tour for various succulent plants. He had a detailed itinerary with multiple stops in the area where the plants are found, detailed information on plant localities, place names and GPS co-ordinates of specific plants. He also had a five-page price list titled “Kal Kaminar — Never Enough Cactus. Hunting Fall Plant Sale 2019 Labels”, which listed various South African succulent plants.
It became clear in court that Kaminar was linked to a nursery named Never Enough Cactus in Los Angeles, California. He also has a Facebook page bearing the same name.

It’s to be hoped that this verdict sends out a strong signal to others not to steal plants from the wild.