In the Australia’s mushroom murders trial, prosecutors alledge iNaturalist was used by Erin Patterson to locate and collect the toxic death cap mushrooms Amanita phalloides which were cooked into a fatal family lunch. This lunch is at the centre of a high-profile triple murder trial in regional Victoria that is under way in the state’s supreme court.
Three people died in hospital in the days after the meal, including Ms Patterson’s former in-laws, Don Patterson, 70, and Gail Patterson, 70, as well as Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66.
A single lunch guest survived, local pastor Ian Wilkinson, after weeks of treatment in hospital.
Should there be set requirements around obscuring the geotagging of toxic or poisonous plants, animals and fungi?
no. you can’t prevent every harm that any person could dream up. there are a lot of organisms that could harm people out there. you’d end up obscuring everything.
to my knowledge Amanita phalloides is pretty common around that part of Victoria, I’m pretty sure it would be very easy to find it without needing iNat anyway
No, but I’m curious. Is there digital evidence that the accused actually consulted iNat and then went to a place where the mushrooms had been observed to collect them?
Not to discount the seriousness of the situation, but I’m not entirely confident I could get really interested in observing, learning about, and ID’ing various pillows. So, uh, I’m glad the founders of iNaturalist decided to focus on natural organisms instead!
It is interesting to see iNaturalist seep into the public conversation in some of these more unusual ways, such as a murder case.
Edit: I’m thinking some more about this alternative world - “Is this pillow wild, or cultivated?”
Yesterday was the trial opening statements. It sounds like the prosecution is going to make the specific accusation you describe. But it may be many days before they return to that point and present any evidence to support it. Here is a transcription of the relevant part of the linked podcast:
The prosecution has made some suggestions that they might have come from either a place called Loch or a place called Outtrim. These are locations nearby to where Erin Patterson lives. The reason they pointed out these spots is that there is a website called iNaturalist, which is a place where science enthusiasts go and document various things. And on that website, people have posted confirmed sightings of deathcap mushrooms. Prosecutors say Ms Patterson went to these areas shortly after these posts went up, the strong implication being, she went there to pick the mushrooms.
Interestingly, the state of South Australia has requested geoprivacy on several fungus species. This includes Amanita phalloides (“deathcap”). Most of the other species are hallucinogenic. (This case is not in South Australia, it is in the neighbouring state of Victoria.) Anyway, if a jurisdiction decides they want geoprivacy on poisonous organisms, they have the means to request it. I don’t see a need for iNaturalist to pre-emptively make that choice.
No. There are too many toxic organisms to hide. And figuring out which ones to hide would be a real time sink for the staff. And would-be murderers would probably find another way if they couldn’t use iNaturalistist to locate a deadly mushroom.
Anyway, mushrooms don’t kill people; people kill people. (Flippant paraphrase of a saying we hear whenever there’s an effort here in the U.S. to control assault rifles, etc. Though there is no constitutional protection for mushrooms . . . . )
Next thing you know they’ll be attacking Google Maps for showing the location of a store that contains knives if someone uses it to buy a knife with murderous intent…
There’s certainly plenty of argument out there about how responsible the manufacturers of weapons should be for their use in crimes, but assigning responsibility to the map that shows them where to go pick the weapon up is on another level beyond that even.
I actually have someone in my family tree who died of mushroom poisoning. It wasn’t a murder, just a regrettable mistake. I suppose it was probably death caps, though the gruesome newspaper accounts of his suffering were a bit hazy on the taxonomy.
Responsible governments would set up mushroom checking stations at designated markets where foragers bring their haul for sorting and promote information what is edible and what is dangerous.
Suppressing location of poisonous mushrooms by my govt is just a lame excuse for shifting blame.
Kindof amusing that Australia, a country brimming with poisonous and venomous creatures, feels the need to blame iNat for someone finding a poisonous mushroom.
The logic is impeccable. Clearly we need to ban all mushroom field guides too.
@thebeachcomber: Possibly. Erin Patterson who made and served the death cap mushroom lunch lived in Leongatha, only one reported A. phalloides within 50km on iNat.
@vbjanos Newer car models now have Automatic electronic braking pedestrian detection systems and external pedestrian-protecting airbags to reduce the potential impact and risk of serious head injury. Obscuring a geotag by 50 - 100km “cushions” the liklihood of someone being able to find deathcaps when they are not in the right state of mind, or have nefarious intentions.
@vbjanos When the alledged murdered Erin Patterson stated it was an accident and she either got the mushrooms from a Chinese grocer or from Woolworths supermarket, the State Health Department thoroughly investigated these claims and could not find any evidence of Death cap mushrooms being sold in these shops. Evidence has been provided that Erin foraged for the toxic mushrooms herself and knew two locations to look using iNaturalist.
Newer car models now have Automatic electronic braking pedestrian detection systems and external pedestrian-protecting airbags to reduce the potential impact and risk of serious head injury. Obscuring a geotag by 50 - 100km “cushions” the liklihood of someone being able to find deathcaps when they are not in the right state of mind, or have nefarious intentions.
@paul_dennehy In Western Australia where I am from you have to be over 18 to buy an “edged weapon”, which includes knives. I have had to show proof of my birthday at checkouts when buying a kitchen knives a few times. Obscuring the geolocation by 50-100km or so is harm minimisation. Another commentor above @cowirrie pointed out that the neighbouring Australian state of South Australia does have geoprivacy laws on a number of toxic and hallucinogenic fungi species.
