More than a dozen trees planted by George Town South MP Barbara Conolly in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee have gone missing in South Sound.
Conolly, over the weekend, posted about the trees on her Facebook page, expressing shock that the 14 sea grape trees planted at Consuelo’s Beach had been removed from the community.
She said, in the post on Saturday, that a friend of hers stopped by to check on the trees and told her they were gone.
Opposition Leader Roy McTaggart, in a comment to the Cayman Compass on Tuesday on the incident, said the trees were planted by Conolly and her friends on the Queen’s jubilee weekend at the South Sound beach to commemorate the event.
“It is very sad and disappointing that only seven days or so later that every one of the trees has been stolen. This vile act is certainly dispiriting for those trying to beautify the landscape and leave a living legacy to the Queen’s jubilee,” he said.
The tree planting by the MP was a part of a wider campaign initiated in the UK called the Queen’s Green Canopy QGC.
The tree-planting initiative was created to mark the jubilee and invited people from across the UK and Overseas Territories to “Plant a Tree for the Jubilee”.
Locally, the goal was to plant 70 trees in each constituency. Other MPs, both Opposition and Government, have also planted trees as part of the campaign as well as local community groups and schools.
McTaggart urged those who know about the removal of the trees to report it to the authorities.
“We pray that those responsible will return the trees, or if not that anyone who knows anything about it will report it to the police. We also pray that this act will not be repeated as more trees get planted across our islands,” he added.
The RCIPS, when contacted by the Compass said no formal report of the theft had been received by press time.
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That the trees have been stolen from Consuelo’s Beach in South Sound is more than disappointing. It is disgusting to know that we have people who would do this in our community. The perpetrator must be found and severely punished. Do we have to have security cameras everywhere?!