Tree funding plea after vandalism in Walsall
A council has appealed for help from the public to pay for a new set of trees after they were destroyed by vandals in a West Midlands park.
Seven Chinese birch trees, which cost £1,000 each, were found snapped from their roots when workers at Walsall Arboretum opened the site on Saturday.
Another such tree had been previously targeted.
Ian McDermott, from Walsall Council, said: "Replacing these trees is going to be quite difficult for us."
He said the trees were "very special" and had been replanted several times.
Mr McDermott added: "They were donated by the friends of the arboretum to the arboretum.
"They all went in to form an avenue at the rear of the lido play area, and it was the first part of our embryonic birch tree collection."