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simhanada

Vandals take axe to Botanic Gardens (VIC)

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most of those will pup right up again, not all is lost...

(not that i'm excusing the behaviour, but they're probably the best plants in the garden to handle such an attack)

anyway, wrong, shame, baddies, karma, yada yada yada

Edited by NegativeDave

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if only they tried that on during a meet :devil:

:slap:

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wheres this bloke when you need him?

gNVkN.png

Edited by paradox
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It was probably some crazed Christians, or something similar, who saw something like channel 7 garbage piece on cactus, and they thought they were doing the world a favor.

This will come around.

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Maybe a disgruntled employee, ex employee?

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This is disturbing & cacti lovers around the world are talking about it!

I am a member of an American cactus forum & people are talking about it there, not only sad for the cacti but makes Australians look bad.

I hope these disrespectful fu#kers get caught!!

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That's really unfortunate.

Just remember that it's easy to blame the dumb kids who thought it would be fun to do this, but, as usual the real problem is the society that bred them that way...

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See i dunno people say that, but if society was the cause then everyone else in that society would also be a "li'le cont".

I think some people are just jerks.

Edited by Frank leDank
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See i dunno people say that, but if society was the cause then everyone else in that society would also be a "li''le cont".

I think some people are just jerks.

Naw, the way I see it, everyone is affected - I'm talking about conditioning to the "cog in a machine" way of life here - but the ones that (do themselves/maybe have been raised by people who) feel the need to resist that kind of lifestyle usually have a really hard time. Without appropriate support or encouragement to keep you moving in a positive direction, I think those kinds of realizations/feelings can easily lead you to a destructive path.

It's like this:

the society pushes everyone into a specific way of life -> someone doesn't agree with that way of life -> that person ends up feeling alone and shunned in the world -> person either is supported and nurtured enough to make the decision to live as he feels is right (IME this is the path of seeking), or is rejected, falls to pieces, and becomes a delinquent -> ???

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When you were kids didn't you want to cut down things that stood up real tall?

I know I did!

Cacti are so soft to stab, it's just so tempting!

Doesn't mean you don't feel bad about what you did after though.

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This is well and truly beyond kids wanting to chop things down, these people are mass murderers. A normal kid would stop at one.

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I remember hacking down a whole heap of 5 yr old crepe myrtes with a machete when I was around ten if eleven, man did my ma and gran kick my ass- was just beyond compelled to destroy? Nature of the beast I guess

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There's no such thing as normal roopey. There's facets deep within each and every one of our personailtys that we would rather not speak of, even you ;)

It is a shame indeed what happened, a terrible shame. But where there are people and no locks on gates and security, humans are gonna be humans.

Is that the only damage? To that small garden in the middle? It's not THAT bad, and any male here that was a boy with a large cutting devise and testosterone starting to pulse from his sack would see hacking down those tall soft cacti as a quantum amount of fun. I'd like to say I would not have done it had the opportunity presented.

Edited by incognito

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My bad, what I meant to say was, any compassionate person. I know that I have done some fucked stuff in my day, maybe even worse than this, I'm not ashamed of my past, but sitting around excusing this behavior is just ludicrous.

Oh, well, it's not the churches fault that they have slaughtered millions of other lives, they were just greedy warmongering humans that were having fun!

I know that is an extreme, but you get my point.

Edited by Roopey

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I'm not excusing it. I can say I understand it. However my opinion would change if the perpetrators where mature aged people.

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when i was about 14, me & a mate got off chops at a party. after the party we walked back to another friends place. in her next door neighbors yard there was a 6ft tall Cereus peruvianus (didn't know that at the time), for whatever dumb reason we picked up some sticks & went & bashed the hell out of it, lopping off the limbs.. i remember it fairly clearly & yes it was fun at the time.. the next day though our friend told us that an old man lives there & he planted that cactus to commemorate his dead wife. we felt like the biggest pieces of shit you can imagine :/

from that day forward i vowed to never harm a cactus again in my life. sometimes i feel it must have been my punishment to contract the cactus bug & dedicate a large chunk of my life to adopting & taking care of 100's of cacti like an obsessive nutcase.

happily within a year his cactus had obviously pupped like crazy & looked bigger & healthier than ever, but i still feel bad when i think of it..

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I hope that they learn from this experience, understand the hurt that they have caused and work to do good in the world to balance it out.

That might be too optimistic though. :(

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when i was about 14, me & a mate got off chops at a party. after the party we walked back to another friends place. in her next door neighbors yard there was a 6ft tall Cereus peruvianus (didn't know that at the time), for whatever dumb reason we picked up some sticks & went & bashed the hell out of it, lopping off the limbs.. i remember it fairly clearly & yes it was fun at the time.. the next day though our friend told us that an old man lives there & he planted that cactus to commemorate his dead wife. we felt like the biggest pieces of shit you can imagine :/

from that day forward i vowed to never harm a cactus again in my life. sometimes i feel it must have been my punishment to contract the cactus bug & dedicate a large chunk of my life to adopting & taking care of 100's of cacti like an obsessive nutcase.

happily within a year his cactus had obviously pupped like crazy & looked bigger & healthier than ever, but i still feel bad when i think of it..

That was my hypothesis at first too, as I too participated in simply fucking stupid vandalism as a kid. It's the mindless beast inside us all. But I suspect whoever destroyed the garden were more than mere kids though, it seemed like an act of someone passionately stupid, unleashing pent up rage earned over decades of fiery inadequacy.

I remember one time a large number of 3-4m tall oak saplings at a park were gradually destroyed by some complete fuckups, the saplings were strong and healthy, it must have taken much more than some scrawny kids to destroy them. Adults most likely.

Ugghhh, this kinda shit actually makes me almost wish for a totalitarian police state where these people end up removed from the gene pool effective immediately.

Edited by Illustro

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Is that the only damage? To that small garden in the middle? It's not THAT bad,.

I agree. When i first heard about this, i thought it would be a lot worse. The garden shown in post #26 is actually only a piddly part of the cactus garden that the Botanical Gardens have. They really have an impressive cactus garden that i imagined was all mowed down by a machette?!, so i am thankful it was only the damage shown in the photo if post #26.

Maybe the massacre stopped at that garden because the perps weren't wearing safety glasses and a spine flew up into their brow??!, lol... Shouldnt wish that on any one huh.

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Nah I think thats a fair call Amz, if u mess with cacti, their spines will mess with you :P

Its a sad situation, but really rather common. My local BG had their entire edwardian glasshouse smashed to smithereens and all the plants hacked up before I was born.

I dunno why people so often take out their rage on plants.

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Well maybe they need to secure the sites and asking for a small entrance fee to help pay for fencing cameras etc

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Too true incog :(

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Community service. Mulching all the gardens for a year and monthly weeding of the cactus garden under the watchful eye of cranky horts will soon make them realise the value of plants!

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Are there any large Euphorbias in this garden? A spattering of white sap might be enough to make them hesitate the next time!

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