John Moratelli has never seen anything like it. And he’s mortified.
Having lived on Sydney’s lower North Shore for more than 25 years, Moratelli is no stranger to stories of the odd tree being illegally cut down.
But the scale of tree vandalism inflicted on bushland adjacent to an affluent street of multi-million-dollar homes in Castle Cove, where 265 trees were callously cut down or poisoned, has left him flabbergasted.
“I have never heard of anything approaching this level, nothing like it,” Moratelli, the Willoughby Environmental Protection Association president, told 9news.com.au.
“I’ve heard of individual trees, maybe a handful of trees, but 265 trees?
“It’s in another realm entirely.”
The affected area measures 3600 square metres – the size of 14 tennis courts – and the number of trees killed is also set to rise as the poison used to wipe out a range of species spreads through the earth and contaminates other root systems.
An 80-year-old angophora costatas, which can reach heights of 30 metres when fully mature, has been poisoned. A range of Christmas bushes, old man banksias, she oaks, cheese trees and tea trees have also been destroyed or infected with toxic poison.
Pictures of the crime scene show trees felled and hacked down, and what appears to be a bottle of poison and a protective rubber glove in scrub.
“I don’t know if you can get hired guns to do this sort of stuff,” Moratelli said.
“But it was quite an investment of time and effort, and you would think that somebody saw or heard something, given the extent of the effort that’s gone into this vandalism.”
He described “extensive chainsawing” of the area with “large trees being cut down”.
Read Related Also: I'm a British expat in Australia and this is the worst date I've been on since moving to Queensland: 'I can't believe he asked me that'
“It wouldn’t have been a one-hour job,” he said.
The penalty for illegally killing or damaging trees or vegetation carries heavy penalties, with fines of up to $1.1 million for individuals and $5 million for companies, such as a property developer.
Willoughby City Council is offering a $10,000 reward for information about the crime, and Mayor Tanya Taylor said the council will “absolutely” push for the toughest punishments if the perpetrators are caught.
Taylor told 9news.com.au council rangers are pursuing leads and “do have some evidence”.
NSW Police have been advised of the crime, she said, but were not officially involved in an investigation yet.
“It’s really disappointing that people these days would think that that’s an okay thing to do. It absolutely isn’t,” Taylor said.
The attack had removed crucial canopy cover and hits an area populated by wallabies, echidnas and birds.
Officials are also concerned about toxic poison runoff into the harbour.
“There’s the fear that the handful of trees remaining are also going to die,” Moratelli said.
“Basically that block has been cleared. It’s been hacked out.”
The attack is believed to have happened in July. Investigations are continuing.
