When most people drive through the Cactus Forest in Saguaro national park, their ____ ____ ____ ____. ____ saguaros fill the view on ____ side of the road, rising 40, even 60ft high, their human-like arms ____. As the park’s chief ranger, O’Neil is ____ ____ ____ for an unusual ____: cactus ____. Saguaros aren’t just beautiful to look at; they also ____ ____ ____ ____, up to $100 a foot, ____ the black market, where they are ____ popular ____ landscapers. As the sideways winter light ____ the saguaros with a golden ____, O’Neil ____ the scene. The national park is ____ ____. Across the south-west, cacti are ____ ____ from public lands in increasing numbers. From ____ saguaros to tiny, rare species ____ as indoor house plants, the ____ global ____ for cacti is driving a shadowy, underground trade that’s difficult to ____. In Saguaro, the situation became so ____ it ____ a ____ solution. In a ____ that ____ ____, park workers began inserting microchips the size of pencil tips into cactus ____, which could be scanned with an electronic reader. While the effort has so far ____ effective in ____ thieves, it has been a rare ____ ____ in a problem that remains ____ yet ____. More than a dozen cactus experts interviewed for this story – government botanists, presidents of regional cactus clubs and respected south-west ____ operators – shared ____ of crimes that go ____ ____, ____ by unregulated international trade on the internet. In the last decade, cacti have ____ ____ popularity, becoming a ____ of hipster decor around the world – from the homes of China’s growing middle class and the ____ cactus gardens in Japan to the fashionable cafes of Europe. But rising demand has met ____ ____ ____: cacti are extremely slow-growing, with some species taking decades to grow from seed to full ____. ____, many ____ ____ ____ ____: pulling them right out of the ground. For land managers and scientists who work with cacti, the problem ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____. While the ____ ____ is difficult to measure, and ____ thieves red-handed in remote deserts is nearly impossible, major busts offer clues. . In 2014, more than 2,600 stolen cacti were ____ at US borders – up from 411 just a year before. But ____ ____ officials and field scientists say that data represents only a ____ ____ of cactus actually being stolen. While many plants ____ ____ ____ underground cactus cartels, a seemingly more ____ form of theft has become part of the problem, too. International visitors who come to the south-west specifically to view rare cactus in the wild sometimes take a souvenir home, and social media is ____ ____ ____. Minnich, 71, has been a cactus grower and ____ operator in New Mexico for 50 years. He said the internet had significantly ____ theft of rare, slow-growing cactus species over the last decade. A case ____ ____: Sclerocactus havasupaiensis, which is native to one drainage at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, was being auctioned on eBay in early January. Back at Saguaro national park, the Guardian joined park staff to see the chipping scheme ____ ____. While O’Neil carried a sidearm, park biologist Don Swann packed a yellow chip insertion device ____ a staple gun. With a tiny chip loaded in the barrel, he held the gun ____ to a saguaro trunk.

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