Nice. Economy crashing but the feds have $ to implant GPS in Arizona cactus

[rainbow4321]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/100908dnnatcactuschips.15cee63.html

Feds to use computer chips to foil cactus thieves

National Park Service officials plan to embed microchips in Arizona's signature plants to protect them from thieves who rip them from the desert to sell them to landscapers, nurseries and homeowners.

The primary objective is deterrence, but the chips also will aid in tracking down and identifying stolen saguaros, said Bob Love, chief ranger at southern Arizona's Saguaro National Park.

The officials at Saguaro National Park, a 91,000-acre park outside Tucson, are in the planning phase of the microchip project, said Love, the park ranger.

(snip)

The microchips cost about $4 to $4.50 each. Wands or scanners to read them range from $500 to $2,500, Love said. Other costs to be factored in include labor needed to insert the chips and to monitor for cactus thefts.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

1. Good question

Maybe you should post this article on Free Republic.

[itsrobert]

2. Have you been to the park?

It's a National and Natural Treasure. If you been there and seen it, you wouldn't be complaining about a few dollars on defending it.

[dbackjon]

3. Money well spent

It is huge theft of OUR natural resource, and cheaper than full time patrols.

Not a waste at all

[Kali]

4. it is stupid but saguaros aren't just any old cactus

and the cost isn't too bad. worse for them is vandalism and development. I doubt if theft out of the park is that bad.

[On the Road]

5. Seems Like a Good Idea to Me

[tularetom]

6. There was a guy around here

who used to make regular trips to Arizona and the Mojave desert to dig up saquaro cacti and Joshua trees which he would sell to developers of hotels. condos, and shopping malls in the Las Vegas area. He was busted but got only a very gentle slap on the wrist. However, a few years later,in a karmic stroke a palm tree he was digging up, fell on him and left him a paraplegic.