The Dunedin City Council took to its Facebook page yesterday morning with photos of the vandalised beech trees, asking, "honestly, who would ever dislike a tree?".
The council said the trees were "beyond saving", and contractors would remove the three destroyed specimens, encouraging anyone with information to contact police.
It was believed the incident happened sometime on Sunday or early Monday morning, a council spokesperson said.
"Our George St work has been designed to deliver a much-improved and more people-friendly environment, and our new trees and other plantings are a big part of that.
"We’re disappointed someone has targeted the trees."
A police complaint had been filed and the council was checking with businesses in the area to see if the incident was captured on CCTV.
The damaged trees, fagus sylvatica fastigiata, from Invercargill, were part of the George Street Retail Quarter upgrade.
"Each tree costs approximately $3000 to purchase, as we need trees of the right shape, maturity and trunk size to reduce the risk of vandalism", the spokesperson said.
The trees required several years of growth before they were mature enough to be placed in an urban street environment.
"We also incur costs associated with transport and labour, including removing the root ball and trunk of each damaged tree and surrounding soil.
"Each new tree then needs to be installed with heavy lifting equipment (given their size and weight), the new root ball secured into the stratavault system and soil replaced."
Qualified horticulturalists were necessary for the work, and traffic management was required to keep contractors and the public safe.
The council planned to replace the trees in the coming weeks.
The council would also install an additional 21 CCTV cameras along George St later this month to help deter future incidents.
