'My flowers are gone': Guelph residents report plants stolen from properties
Residents in Guelph are raising concerns about plants going missing from their property in recent weeks.
Lekha Nair lives in the Kortright Hills community and said pieces of her peonies were plucked off. She said she thinks about a dozen were cut off at the stem at the end of May.
“I feel very sad when we saw this,” said Nair.
The plant cost around $30 but Nair said it is not the money that is the biggest loss.
“It hurts,” she said, adding that the garden is her happy place. “It is therapeutic for me, leaving my stress. It makes me feel happy.”
A similar incident occurred off Victoria Road North at Loretta Gortmaker’s home on June 7.
“When I backed out of the driveway there was a hole there where there used to be a plant,” said Gortmaker.
She replaced the missing plant but said it is still upsetting.
“I had actually taken the hangers off of it and I had just sink the pot into the ground a little bit so that it doesn't blow over,” she said.
A resident who lives off Stevenson Street North said about eight of her plants were ripped right out of the soil.
“If it’s an animal it would leave a trace like of dirt on the ground and stuff like that,” said Marissa Sarong.
Sarong said her aunt noticed it Tuesday morning and felt violated.
“Oh my gosh my flowers are gone. She couldn’t believe that someone would actually steal a flower,” Sarong said.
All three incidents took place in different Guelph neighbourhoods with several more posting on social media about possible plant pirates in other nearby communities.
“Property crimes don’t tend to happen in isolation. So if someone is doing it in one place, chances are they doing another place as well,”said Scott Tracey with Guelph police.
Police suggest people report any and all crimes no matter how small the dollar value of the items lost is.
“A theft is a theft and especially when it happens on your own property there is a violation of your property as well,” said Tracey.
Keeping a well-lit garden and installing security cameras could help keep culprits away, according to police.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.