In an incident reported in Hezhou City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, a man repeatedly poisoned a 220-year-old camphor tree, causing it to exhibit abnormal signs. The man has recently been detained as a result of his actions, which quickly sparked a surge in online searches.
According to a report by Hangzhou’s “City Express Orange Interaction” on October 19, in July of this year, staff from the Hezhou City Gardening and Greening Management Center discovered abnormalities in a 220-year-old camphor tree located on Xinning Street in the Babu District. The tree showed clear signs of withering on one side, and upon inspection, staff found a significant amount of a suspicious substance emitting an irritant odor in the holes set up around the tree trunk for water drainage and ventilation.
After investigation by relevant authorities, a man named Zeng was found to be highly suspicious in connection to this incident.
Following his detention, Zeng explained that he wanted to remove the camphor tree because its branches obstructed sunlight to his house. He purchased a chemical called chlordimeform, known as “tree killer” and “rotten root king,” from both offline agricultural supply stores and online e-commerce platforms. He then surreptitiously poured chlordimeform into the water drainage and ventilation holes at the base of the camphor tree multiple times, hoping to kill the tree in this manner.
Zeng is currently in custody as a result of his actions.
After this news was released, many netizens expressed condemnation towards Zeng’s behavior, labeling him as “too selfish.”
“Justin from Haining” commented, “Clearly, the tree was there first before the house was built. Shouldn’t you have considered the tree when constructing your house? Is it really the tree’s fault?”
A netizen named “Drunk Ao” said, “Such mistreatment of a tree! People say it’s nice to sit in the shade of a big tree, but you ended up complaining about it.”
“August Guy” speculated that Zeng may have believed that the tree was affecting the feng shui of his home.