Tree thieves nabbed!

I was reading IOL and came across a sad story on how low South Africans can actually go:

Johannesburg City Parks on Friday caught a company allegedly stealing a tree from a public pavement in Randburg.

City Parks spokesperson Jenny Moodley said the company, which sold indigenous and exotic trees and also relocated them, had allegedly been hired by someone to remove a tree from a public pavement. The tree was removed on Friday, apparently to be resold.

Another tree was in the process of being removed when a member of the public alerted City Parks. The organisation then went to the scene in Bloubosrand, Randburg and caught the company allegedly removing the tree.

The company would face legal action and be charged with transgressing municipal by-laws. It would also have to replace the tree with another of equal value. – Sapa

Original link: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=79&art_id=nw20080718150424463C389790

Honestly now. How pathetic is that?! Is it reaching a point where we actually have to chain our trees to the ground or put alarm systems on them? What's next? Taking out insurance policies on your garden just in case your petunias get nabbed? Then the utter gall of removing the tree from a public pavement! Did they really think that nobody would notice them ripping a piece of tax payer's property out of the very ground in broad daylight? Shame on you villains! Shame on you!