Homeowner's drastic move after 'low-life' act in Aussie suburb: 'Instantly irate'
Dan Pearce, 36, is disheartened after two plants and a parcel worth hundreds have been stolen from his home in recent months.
A resident has been forced to erect two handwritten signs in as many months pleading with flower thieves to stop stealing plants from his lovingly kept yard. And he's not the only Aussie in recent months to have plants stolen, as garden theft appears widespread across the country.
Sydney man Dan Pearce, 36, was delighted to finally get onto the property ladder with his partner, with the pair buying a home in Moss Vale in the Southern Highlands of NSW. In an attempt to make the place more homely he transported over 150 plants and "dug up the garden" to fill it with colour.
However, on Thursday afternoon he noticed there was a dug-out hole where he had recently planted a species of hedge called Thuja Smaragd.
"I was literally out there the day before watering it and then I looked across today and I was like, 'There's a hole in my hedge'," he told Yahoo News. "I was absolutely gutted and instantly irate because this happened a couple of months ago to me as well."
The "garden guy" scribbled out a scathing message to the thief and lay it where the plant once stood. It read, 'You absolute low life f***er!! F**k off stealing people's things!!! I work hard for this... give it back you p***k!".
Pearce admitted it may not have been the most productive approach but he was "furious", explaining he's spent hundreds of dollars on his yard and gardening has been beneficial to both his mental health and connecting with people in the new area.
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Resident will now install security cameras after ongoing theft
A well established plant that Pearce paid "a couple of hundred dollars" for was stolen recently and he erected a large sign on his lawn asking for the offender to "please bring it back" and to "stop stealing".
A suitcase with contents worth $400 was also stolen after it was delivered to his home.
"We will now get security cameras. It's not something that I've ever wanted to do... I need to deter people," he said. Pearce has reported the recent plant theft to the police.
Plant theft saga continues
The incident in Moss Vale is the latest report of a resident having their plants stolen, with a student in Sydney's west only last week finding $300 worth of her recently planted flowers gone overnight.
At the end of June, a resident found her lost plant — which had disappeared for 18 months — tucked behind a corner in her neighbour's yard after a postie delivered her parcel to the wrong address, and a plant scattered with a loved one's ashes had also been stolen from a family's home, forcing them to plead in a handwritten sign for offenders to return it.
Pearce believes the rising cost of living has made unsupervised plants simply too enticing for opportunists who don't want to cop the cost of buying one.
"Plants aren't cheap, pots aren't cheap," he said. "I get bikes are a material thing, maybe kids are nicking them, but with plants it's a lot more violating... you put so much love into them."
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