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Did Venus Flytraps captivate you as a child?

Carnivorous plants may not have been the fascination of every kid on the block, but I was admittedly geeky enough to have a whole terrarium of them.

I could try to justify my offbeat hobby by claiming it was educational, but the truth is it was just plain cool to watch the plants devour every hapless insect that wandered across their jaws. It was like having my own Little Shop of Horrors full of Audreys, albeit on a miniature, self-contained scale.

Sadly, it now appears future generations of schoolchildren may end up deprived of all that good, clean, macabre fun.

According to an Associated Press report, the Venus Flytrap’s sole native habitat — a 100-mile ring of Carolinian bogs and wetlands — is rapidly being decimated by logging, urbanization, fire suppression and poachers.

With nearly 80 percent of its wild populations facing almost certain extinction, “the little plant is more vulnerable than ever,” warns the article. Worse, “the people who could protect it seem focused on other problems.”