Police responded and stopped the truck on Fort Morgan Road. Inside they discovered 18 bags filled with palmetto berries which the police said the suspects admitted to taking off the refuge.
) - It was a bizarre bust Wednesday night, September 18, 2024 in Gulf Shores that had a lot of folks around town and even the police scratching their heads. Nearly 2,000 pounds of berries that police said were illegally plucked from palmetto plants on the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge were found in the back of a truck. It was thanks to an alert passerby who saw men walking out of the woods with sacks over their shoulders and called police, that they were able to make the stop.
Police seize 18 sack filled with palmetto berries after being alerted to suspicious activity on the Bon Secour National Wildlife RefugeFast forward to Wednesday night. It was just before dark on Newberry Road when a tourist said they saw some men carrying similar sacks out of the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge. Concerned, they took a picture of one of the men and called police. Kayla Stull witnessed it and said it was very concerning.
“They didn’t specifically say where they were headed to or who hired them, just that there was a market for these berries and one commented that he didn’t think it was illegal to harvest the berries in the state of Alabama, but it is illegal to harvest the berries on federal lands.” explained Detective Carl Wittstruck with Gulf Shores Police.
“It’s our understanding that these berries can go anywhere from up to ten dollars per pound in Florida and there is a market for them and what they do with them, we don’t know but apparently there’s laws in Florida that prevents people from harvesting these berries without the permits or the licenses to do so,” Wittstruck said.
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