Colombian cashes in on beetle-mania abroad

Viasus, 36, is a Colombian entrepreneur who is exploiting the beetle-mania sweeping Japan by raising and exporting hundreds of the creepy-crawlies every month.

He has become a fearless (in more ways than one) pioneer of Colombia's somewhat belated effort to promote the legal exploitation of its biodiversity, a stunning variety of plant and animal species that is second only to Brazil's.

Despite its natural riches, Colombia produces only about $17 million in "bio-commerce" a year, mainly in native foliage used in floral arrangements and aromatic, medicinal and cosmetic herbs, said Jose Andres Diaz, a consultant to Colombia's equivalent of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That's only a quarter of what neighboring Peru exports, he said.

In a bid to catch up, Colombia's Environment Ministry recently set up a $1-million bio-commerce fund to make loans to businesses such as Viasus' Terra Viva that pursue "green" markets. Among other recipients: organic coffee growers near Santa Marta and a group of women in Cali who raise butterfly larvae and sell them mainly to wedding planners and collectors in the United States.

Viasus seems to feel as much affection for the insects as do his Asian clients, possibly because his business, which is approved by both Colombian and Japanese governments, is so lucrative. He ships 300 giant beetles a month that retail for as much as $350 each in Tokyo pet stores.

"The beetles have a personality and know those of us who take care of them," Viasus said. "They are calm around us, but like dogs they get nervous around strangers or if they think someone is going to hurt them."

Viasus smiled as half a dozen of the dark brown creatures ranged over his shirt. "If I produced 1,000 beetles a day," he said, "I could sell them all."

His effort contrasts with the illicit trade of a host of rare and endangered Colombian wildlife and plant species, which are smuggled out of the country every day. In the last year, Colombia's environmental police have seized thousands of scorpions, box turtles, flamingos, tarantulas, anteaters, sloths and other species, including beetles. Police say one of the hot contraband items of the moment is meat of the chiguiro, one of the largest rodent species in the world, fast disappearing from Colombia's eastern jungles.