RALEIGH - It is now a felony to steal the rare meat eating Venus Flytrap plant which only grows in a limited coastal area of the Carolinas.

State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler explains the state has wasted no time cracking down on those who might try to poach the plant.

"Four men were charged for poaching 900 of the plants from the Holly Shelter Game Land in Pender county and they were actually caught by wildlife resource commission officers."

The North Carolina Chapter of the Nature Conservancy estimates only 35,000 plants remain in the wild, citing poaching as a major threat.