A home in a Tai Po village was damaged this weekend after a rare agarwood tree was toppled onto its roof, apparently by thieves who were trying to make off with it.
There’s a joke somewhere here along the lines of “gang fells tree and leaves”… but that’s as far as we’ve got.
A 60-year-old man living in the house found the 20-metre tree had crashed onto his roof in She Shan village on Sunday night, just days after locals had noticed branches had be cut off and removed.
Agarwood and resin are used for making high-end furniture and fragrances, with this particular specimen estimated by experts to be worth around HKD800,000.
Despite this, Hong Kong’s Land Department has sent the trunk for disposal at a landfill site.
Smart.
Headline Daily reports that the villagers were planning to build a metal fence around the tree to protect it before the incident.
The tree was one of four planted by residents around 100 years ago.
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