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Advertisement Attack on trees in Catonsville under investigation 32 trees slashed, hacked, drilled, poisoned on Edmondson Avenue Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Someone attacked almost three dozen trees in Catonsville, killing five of them.Baltimore County police told 11 News that it's early in the investigation, and at this point, they have no suspects.It's a half-mile mystery along Edmondson Avenue in Catonsville, where 32 Kwanzan cherry trees newly planted in the median were slashed, hacked, drilled and poisoned. Five of the trees were killed outright, and others are on the brink of dying."I think it's a low kind of person who would do something like that, after all the work they put into making it look nice," said Tish Pehr, a resident.The surviving trees were bundled up Monday in water bags during triage by members of the Catonsville Tree Canopy Project."We could see from the sawdust, from the holes and the live cuts that this had actually been done over a few days. Some of the sawdust was days old, some was very recent," said Jim Himel, with the Catonsville Tree Canopy Project.It's believed the vandalism took place sometime in the first week of July. The clues left behind on the tree trunks hint at coordination, that somebody crossed the street well prepared, carrying the proper tools and poison, and knowing the layout of the plantings."They didn't know what they were doing, because if you want to poison a tree, it's not how you do it," Himel said.The nonprofit Catonsville Tree Canopy Project has been working toward a goal of planting, watering and maintaining 1,000 trees in the community by 2020. The cherry trees would have grown to be show-stoppers with stunning pink blossoms each spring.Baltimore County police told 11 News that they're not sure of the exact date when the tree attack happened, but they believe it was carried out early in the morning or very late at night.