PLANT thieves are at it again at Thornlands, with a resident fuming after thieves pinched a foxtail palm tree from her garden, leaving behind nothing but a hole in the ground.
Sandra Hodder, a passionate gardener, said plant nappers hit her property at night, digging up and making off with a one metre tall foxtail palm from her side garden.
She said it was the second time her property had been hit, with thieves ransacking her yard and stealing seven palm trees more than a decade ago in what she believed was a planned attack.
Both thefts occurred under the cover of darkness and following rain, which Ms Hodder said made the soil soft and the trees easy pickings for opportunists.
"It was growing really well and I was going to put the stake in it this weekend so nobody could steal it," Ms Hodder said.
"People are so desperate. It is a freaking palm tree. We have a lot of people that walk past here so somebody would have eyed it up.
"With all the fires, we are doing all these charity things at work, we give money at the shopping centre and then these f*****s come along and steal my god damn palm tree.
"I am going to plant another one in here but someone will probably steal that too."
Ms Hodder said she noticed the palm tree was missing when she drove past and saw a hole in her garden.
She said she was devastated to find it had been stolen as she had invested time and money into bringing it back to life.
"They're not cheap," she said. "They're about $20 or $30. But if I had to replace one that tall it would be $50 because they are foxtail palms.
"Because it was raining and the soil was wet they would have ripped it straight out.
"I am just really upset that we are all giving to all the stuff that is happening and then there are f*****s out there that come and take.
"My son knows how much I loved my little palm tree. We thought it was dying so we put fertiliser around it and it came back to life and now it is gone."
Ms Hodder said she did not expect this behaviour at Redlands, particularly Thornlands.
The palm theft comes just a year after another Thornlands woman complained of boganvilleas, white geraniums, petunias and succulents being stolen from her front yard.
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