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Police Ramp Up Efforts To Nab Tree Poisoner After Multiple Incidents

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Lorenzo Prieto Contributor
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Authorities in Kelowna, Canada, are stepping up their efforts to catch the individual responsible for poisoning trees over the past year, according to a city release.

An anonymous culprit deliberately poisoned the trees by drilling holes in their trunk and filling them with herbicide, according to a City of Kelowna news release. The most recent incident occurred last week and targeted an 18-metre-tall cottonwood tree at 1055 Sunset Drive, CBC news reported. The city is looking for anyone who witnessed any suspicious activity to report any information to the Kelowna Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). (RELATED: Tree Falls On 7-Year-Old Girl While Camping With Family At National Park)

“It’s hard to understand how someone in our community would go out of their way to kill a tree like this, to drill 25 holes in it and fill them with herbicide,” Infrastructure General Manager Mac Logan said. “The City will have to recover the cost to eventually remove the tree replace it, but the idea that someone would actively choose to harm their community in this way bothers me greatly. It’s now happened for a third time in less than a year and we as a community need to stop such acts.”

In an effort to support the local wildlife, the city staff is working to preserve the recently-poisoned tree until it becomes a safety hazard and needs to be removed, according to the city release. Previous poisonings occurred on Manhattan Drive and in the Clarence Greenspace area. The latter incident led to the poisoning and consequent death of six additional Aspen trees.

Logan added that taxpayers would be affected by paying a high price for removing the tree, according to CBC. “There are thousands of dollars worth of effort that are going to be expended at the taxpayers’ expense that didn’t need to happen,” Logan concluded.