'Marvellous' Hercules beetle stolen en route from Costa Rica to Quebec
Not everyone would enjoy getting a package with an insect the length of a smartphone in it as a gift, but that's what Tommy St-Laurent was eagerly awaiting for his recent birthday.
"When you are an entomologist, the best that we can give to you is to have a really big [bug] species," said St-Laurent, who studies insects and runs the Labyrinthe des insectes in Amos, Que., about 600 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
St-Laurent was waiting for Herculito, the name he gave a rhinoceros beetle about 12 centimetres long that his friend Gabriela in Costa Rica had sent him. But when the package arrived Thursday, something was amiss.
It appeared to have been opened and Herculito was nowhere to be found.
Now, he's desperate to find the missing beetle he says needs special care, is rare and hard to spot in the tropical forests that make up its natural habitat.
The food St-Laurent's friend had sent with the beetle was gone, too, so he suspects Herculito disappeared sometime after it got to Canada.
"They're really scary, but they're innocent," St-Laurent told CBC News. "When people see them, it's a special experience and they want to see more."
'This is not a money question'
He says it's one of the biggest beetles in the world and one of the strongest animals out there. Also called a Hercules beetle, it's worth between $300 and $400.
But it's not about the money, he insisted. If the beetle isn't in a proper environment and isn't given the right food, it will die, he says. The Labyrinthe des insectes is asking whoever took it to bring it back and it won't pursue legal action.
"We have a legal permit to do this and a lot of people want to see this species," St-Laurent said. "It's very sad for our visitors because they won't see them because someone with bad intentions took [it]."
With a distinguishing spiky horn, the "really impressive" black beetle can carry up to 900 times its own weight. Plus, it can fly, he says.
St-Laurent is worried the name of his small insectarium on the package piqued someone's curiosity.
"[They may have] seen that we were the Labyrinthe des insectes and said, 'Oh my god, it's scratching inside,' and they wanted to look and saw that it's a marvellous special species," he said.
More than 100 live species
He says he's reached out to Canada Post, which took over the package's handling from the Costa Rican delivery company it was shipped with.
Canada Post told him it's looking into his case, and has to contact those who may have managed it on both sides.
In a statement to Radio-Canada, a spokesperson for the postal service said it doesn't open any mail, but that packages coming from outside the country first go through other services, such as customs.
A (renewable) licence is required to import live bugs and some plants, and to get one, you have to prove you have the proper infrastructure to accommodate them, which St-Laurent says he has.
St-Laurent has more than 100 species of live insects at the Labyrinthe, including spiders, scorpions, butterflies and moths.
Most of them live separately in vivariums, while about 2,000 more are what he calls "naturalized," preserved dead insects for show. They come from all around the world, he says.
His goal is to educate people about insects and change negative perceptions of them.
"This is my life, I live for them."
