Sydney's trees are being poisoned by residents eager to open up harbour views from their homes.
The arboreal cull has become "an epidemic", according to New South Wales environment minister Bob Debus.
His state government now plans to toughen up existing laws in a bid to discourage the aspirational residents.
The vandals bore holes in the trunks and filled them with poison, chopped them down, or cut away strips of bark, killing the trees slowly, reports said.
"It's clear some residents are taking matters into their own hands but, unless you catch people in the act, it's extremely hard to find and prosecute for tree vandalism or poisoning," Mr Debus was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
"In some of the worst cases entire groves of mature trees have been poisoned to give uninterrupted views to nearby waterways," he said in a letter to the head of a local government association.
But Coogee resident and environmental consultant Stephen Sheldon said the local authorities should not be taken aback by the residents' response.
"If they plant trees in front of peoples' houses when people have these views, then it is hardly a surprise that some of them will poison them," he told the Sydney Morning Herald this week.
Peter and Ed, you both got us worried! The trees 'mess up the view"?? Who would not want to see a healthy tree! The cat doesn't match the furniture? This woman should be restrained from having anything alive around! (To think we were wearing brown shades while driving a blue car, good thing we needed a new car, it matches the shades!) This world is indeed going mad.
Birgit and Roger
"If they plant trees in front of peoples' houses when people have these views, then it is hardly a surprise that some of them will poison them,"
Doesn't surprise me at all, these days, Peter. And this reminds me of a woman at one of our local animal shelters who brought her 10-year old grey cat in, eagerly wanting to exchange it for a tan one since she'd just bought new furniture, and the extremely unfortunate grey kitty just didn't fit in anymore. I guess nature's magnificent trees don't fit into the decor of our 'modern world' anymore either.
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Birgit and Roger
Doesn't surprise me at all, these days, Peter. And this reminds me of a woman at one of our local animal shelters who brought her 10-year old grey cat in, eagerly wanting to exchange it for a tan one since she'd just bought new furniture, and the extremely unfortunate grey kitty just didn't fit in anymore. I guess nature's magnificent trees don't fit into the decor of our 'modern world' anymore either.