Trapped

The Venus flytrap only grows naturally in one place in the world –North Carolina – and ecologists worry that the plant is in danger. In 2014, North Carolina lawmakers made picking the Venus flytrap a felony with a potential prison sentence. While this move was widely praised by conservationists and the media, a local Black community who had depended on the plant for generations found themselves designated criminals overnight. Now, many face a difficult choice: try to get by on a $7.25 minimum wage, or turn to the black market and risk jail time?

by Madeleine Engel and Joe Purtell (USA)