DPA A German pensioner could face criminal charges for clear-cutting the forest at his Baltic Sea vacation home.

Unhappy with the obscured view at his property near the Baltic Sea coast, a German pensioner struck back at nature -- with a chainsaw.

Police reported on Thursday that the 80-year-old man admitted to having illegally cut down 122 trees because they obstructed his view of the coast at his vacation home in an expensive part of the town of Scharbeutz near Lübeck in northern Germany.

The police investigating the crime said the tops had been cut off of 66 beech, ash, oak and wild cherry trees and that an additional 55 had been sawed to the ground completely. All of the trees were over 30 years old. The local forestry office is estimating damages at 15,000 ($22,000).

Meanwhile, prosecutors are exploring their options for charging the man for property damage and violating both state and federal nature conservation laws.

However, some local neighbors have come to the defense of the would-be Baltic Paul Bunyan, telling the local newspaper Lübecker Nachrichten that trees had been completely removed from certain properties before some new houses in the area were built.

"Maybe he got a bit carried away with 120 trees," said one neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous. "But what's all the fuss about?"

dsl/dpa