Florida K-9 stops theft of rare and endangered orchids at state park

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A keen-nosed K-9 in Florida helped wildlife authorities uncover a theft attempt of rare and endangered plants from a state park.

On Facebook, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) made an announcement in late February that a K-9 named Susan sniffed out a bag of stolen plants.

The thieves reportedly stole 35 ribbon orchids and one ghost orchid.

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"Ghost Orchid Busters," the FWC wrote in its Facebook post on Thursday, Feb. 23. "One of our K-9 handlers was called to the scene of a crime in progress… people digging up plants at a state park. Stealing plants? Seriously?!"

While the FWC’s announcement is new, a spokesperson for the wildlife agency’s law enforcement department told Fox News Digital that the theft was thwarted on Oct. 24, 2022.

An FWC officer stationed at Fakahatchee Strand State Park in Collier County responded to a complaint regarding two men taking air plants and orchids from the area.

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K-9 Susan was present when the officer first approached the reported duo.

"The individuals denied taking any plants or knowing that it was against the rules," the FWC wrote to Fox News Digital. "They showed the officer the content of their backpacks and their vehicle, no plants were present."

Fakahatchee Strand is located in Collier County, which is in the southwest of Florida, near the Everglades. (Tim Graham/Getty Images)

The officer reportedly issued a warning to the two men for entering the park without paying an admission fee.

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Later in the day, K-9 Susan indicated she smelled something amiss along the trail where the FWC officer first encountered the two men.

The dog led the officer to an area that had "heavy vegetation" and the pair found a machete and a bag containing 36 stolen plants, which had been submerged in water in a culvert, according to the FWC.  

The FWC considers ribbon orchids and ghost orchids to be endangered species.

An uncommonly found and endangered twenty-year-old ghost orchid blooms for only the second time in the swamp at Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park in Copeland, Florida on June 29, 2016. Scientists and researchers have been growing the orchids with hopes of reintroducing the endangered species into the wild. (RHONA WISE/AFP via Getty Images)

The North American Orchid Conservation Center, a botany guide established by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and U.S. Botanic Garden, reports that ribbon orchids are leafless yellow-orange flowers that have a ribbon-like appearance while ghost orchids are leafless white flowers that typically grow three lobes.

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Both plants can be found in Florida. Ghost orchids can also be found in Cuba, the Bahamas and West Indies.

All of the illegally harvested orchids were returned to Fakahatchee Strand State Park.

First-degree misdemeanors related to harvesting endangered and commercially exploited plants without permission were charged against one of the men, who happened to be 19 years old at the time of the theft, according to the FWC’s records.

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The FWC acknowledged that rare orchid thefts had once resulted in a real-life theft ring in Fakahatchee Strand, which was chronicled in the 1998 nonfiction book, "The Orchid Thief," written by Susan Orlean.