Arborists are chopping down an historic Norfolk pine at Snells Beach despite the passionate community's pleas to let it stay.
Local man Grant McLachlan saw the men up the tree already using their chainsaws when he walked his dog at 7.30am this morning. He said they were chopping down branches so no one else could climb the tree.
"They are just a bunch of rednecks the developers have brought in. No local arborists have been willing to touch the tree
"I'm absolutely disgusted. These guys are ugly Auckland. They are the worst. No one else wanted to cut this tree down," McLachlan told the Herald.
Snells Beach locals were outraged when developers obtained a non-notified consent to cut down the 150-year-old tree from a public reserve as part of a 33-home development.