Succulents, the popular hipster plant, are in the center of a smuggling crisis. Demand in China and Korea has led to thousands of Dudleya being stolen from California. The plants are prized for their chubby limbs and cute shapes, while in Korea, succulents are a treasured hobby for housewives, reports The Guardian. But the plants are getting snatched off the coastal cliffs of California by international smugglers and shipped to an Asian market. This year, California Department of Fish and Wildlife wardens have made five busts, involving more than 3,500 stolen plants.
“Right now these plants are a boom in Korea, China and Japan. It’s huge among domestic housewives. It’s a status thing,” said the department warden Pat Freeling, who spearheaded the investigation, to The Guardian. “It’s become an exotic lotus flower succulent. Someone likened it to the next Pokémon.”
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