Fortunately vandals never managed to retrieve the money from the box as it became stuck inside the concrete and wire mesh stand. Photo / Supplied
Fortunately vandals never managed to retrieve the money from the box as it became stuck inside the concrete and wire mesh stand. Photo / Supplied
KAIPARA CONNECTION
The walking track to Waipoua Forest's Tane Mahuta has been closed temporarily while repair work is done to replace a donation box that was vandalised in an attempted theft.
Department of Conservation (DoC) Kauri Coast operations manager Stephen Soole said: "Not only is this vandalism of public property, whichwe take very seriously, it's going to take time to repair."
Soole expects the track to remain closed on Friday and potentially Saturday as well.
Fortunately vandals never managed to retrieve the money from the box as it became stuck inside the concrete and wire mesh stand.
However the incident has been reported to police, who are now investigating.
Waipoua Forest Tane Mahuta ambassador Conrad Marsh videoed the aftermath when he turned up to work to find the donation box smashed to pieces on Tuesday morning.
The Department of Conservation Charity Box was totalled by someone possibly with a jack hammer. Photo / Supplied
The video posted to Facebook shows extensive damage to the donation box with concrete shards scattered across the track and wires hanging from where the box once sat. The culprits could not get to the donation box itself because it fell inside the concrete mesh stand.
In the video he said: "It's a beautiful day in the Waipoua, but something's a bit different here this morning, and this is what it is, so last night some people ... came in here and tried to smash into our donation box.
"It's pretty dumb if you ask me. Why you say? Well they tried to break into the box in the middle of winter when there's no tourists to put donations into the donation box.
"So they came through with a jack hammer. They had to carry it down here and jack hammer it all down ... then they realised ooh it's ... metal - so their mission was a fail. I think it was a local - I don't know any tourists who would carry a jack hammer around in their backpacks ...
"So yeah, if you are watching that and that was you, shame, shame, you went through all of that to get nothing. Even if you come back to finish the mission off, wow you've just jammed the box in there, you ain't getting nothing."
The funds that are collected go directly back into operational maintenance of the surrounding area, such as maintaining the boardwalk that leads up to Tane Mahuta, New Zealand's largest known living kauri tree.
Te Roroa general development group manager Snow Tane said he hasn't known anything like this to happen in the forest before.
"It's a pretty solid donation box and they never actually got to the money sort of things."
Tane said the act of stealing from a charity box was possibly a reflection of issues occurring in the wider community.
And he has a message for the perpetrators.
"The only message I would give is that you need to really seek help if you are desperate.
"Otherwise this is a wanton act that is really damaging to the work that is trying to be achieved in the area. An attack on that box, is an attack on those people trying to work to protect that forest."
A Dargaville resident claims his pet cat was slashed with a sharp instrument with the injuries so severe the pet had to have part of its paw removed.
Aaron Allan said he took his cat to the vet initially thinking it had been hit by a car.
"But the vet said the cuts were too clean and precise for a trauma wound and someone has slashed through all its muscles down to the bone from its paw and the entire length of its leg.
"She was operated on and will be losing part of her paw."
Allan posted his concerns to the Dargaville Grapevine information sharing page to warn others. "Someone in the Haimona/Pirika St area is harming cats."
It's not the first time the cat has been targeted ... and so has another one.
A few days earlier the same cat cut with a sharp instrument had showed up "literally covered in oil", he said.
"The next day our other cat showed up and had been shaven down one side with hair clippers."
Dargaville Veterinary Centre was contacted for comment, however they declined. SPCA is the only charity with the legal powers to help animals in need and bring animal offenders to justice. Inspectors are appointed under the Animal Welfare Act 1999 which provides powers to investigate cruelty, abuse, neglect and abandonment.
All cruelty reports should be made by phone to your local SPCA centre, the nearest one to Dargaville is Whangārei on 09 438 9161.
• Email rose.northernadvocate@gmail.com if you have news that you would like to share with Northern Advocate readers.
