RABBIT HOLE 1 : That cactus has a microchip in it.
Same chip your vet puts in your dog. Saguaro National Park implanted around a thousand of them — into cacti — and rangers walk around with scanner wands. Find a suspicious giant saguaro planted in some Scottsdale front yard? Wave the wand. If it pings, they can match that cactus to the literal hole in the ground it was ripped out of.
Why? Because cactus theft is a real, international racket — and Customs has seized 100+ illegal cactus shipments headed to collectors all over the world.
And these things are worth protecting. A saguaro grows about a foot per decade. Doesn’t grow its first arm until it’s 50–75 years old. A big multi-armed one can be 150+ years old and weigh several tons. Cut one down without a permit in Arizona and it’s a Class 4 felony — same legal tier as arson and kidnapping…for a plant.
So yeah. Out in the Arizona desert, there are chips hidden inside things, waiting to be scanned.
…which, if you’ve seen my book cover, is a little on the nose. This is the kind of hole I fell down writing Silicon Smuggling. Check out the crested ones…
