Five priceless Serbian Spruces have been dug up by thieves from a woodland reserve in Perth, Scotland to sell as Christmas trees, it is believed. Source: Telegraph UK
The endangered Serbian Spruces were taken from Kinnoull Hill Woodland Park by thieves using garden forks.
During the theft the thieves damaged the roots of the trees and have killed them.
The Serbian Spruces are so rare, the team from Forest Enterprise Scotland (FES) had to undertake an expedition to Bosnia to obtain seeds to attempt to grow them in Perth, the only place in the UK they are grown.
There are now only a few remaining trees at a secret location.
The one metre tall young trees, also called Picea omorika, were a priceless component of the Perth and Kinross Countryside Trust’s (PKCT) Big Tree Country Conifer Conservation Programme at Kinnoull Hill Woodland Park.
Robin Lofthouse, Forest Enterprise Scotland’s Beat Forester, who looks after Kinnoull Hill, said: “At a time when biodiversity around the world is increasingly under pressure, projects such as this play an invaluable part in conserving genetic material.
“This pointless theft is extremely frustrating not just because of the loss but because the trees are likely to have been killed: the thief had tried to dig them up but left most of the roots in the ground.
“Sadly, we are now in the situation where we are forced to look at where we could site cameras to protect other species in the project.
“I would urge anyone with any information about this crime to contact Tayside police, or the local Forest Enterprise Scotland office.”
Tom Christian, PKCT Project Officer, said the trees, which grow to up 30 metres tall, are irreplaceable as there is no way to recover the missing genetic material.
“The climate and landscape of Perthshire are ideal for growing conifers and the area provides a very important safe haven for rare and endangered species from around the world,” he said.
“Each Conifer Conservation Programme tree is grown from seed that has been specially collected from its native habitat.
“Each tree represents years of work organising expeditions, processing the collected seeds, growing them on and then planting them in Perthshire.
“Until these trees were stolen, we probably had the greatest concentration of these trees outside of their native range.”
The PKCT Conservation Programme is part of the world-leading International Conifer Conservation Programme (ICCP) based at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
The ICCP works in partnership with PKCT to conserve specimens of conifer species that are at risk of extinction in their native range.
The PKCT said it will be at least six years before the team can raise the funding for another expedition to gather the rare seeds.
