Many times a week, CapeNature compliance officers and SAPS units chase down plant poachers - some driven by economic hardship, others by profit - supplying a market for ornamental conversation pieces in homes around the world. Whether buyers realise it or not, the trade has cascading ecological impacts and undermines tourism livelihoods. Between April and June 2025, CapeNature - the public institution responsible for biodiversity conservation in the Western Cape - registered 12 biodiversity crime cases. Eight involved flora (plant life), while four related to fauna (animal life). Sixteen people were arrested. Alongside these investigations, officials issued 23 fines: four for contraventions of the Marine Living Resources Act (such as fishing without a licence or catching undersized fish) and 19 for offences under the Nature Conservation Ordinance, including the possession of wild animals or indigenous plants, and illegal snaring.