Kelowna RCMP unable to track down person who poisoned downtown tree

Photo: Nicholas Johansen

The remains of the poisoned tree on Sunset Drive Feb. 9. 2024.

It appears that a Kelowna tree killer has gotten away with it.

Last spring, 25 holes were drilled into a large tree in Sunset Drive Park near the Waterscapes Skye Tower, and the holes were filled with herbicide.

While police investigated the poisoning, they were unable to find the culprit.

"Unfortunately video surveillance didn’t identify any suspects and the investigation has been concluded," Kelowna RCMP spokesperson Ryan Watters told Castanet Friday.

Back in May, the City of Kelowna said the tree would slowly die through the summer. Once one of the largest trees in the small park, it has has since been partially cut down, with all the branches having now been removed.

“It’s hard to understand how someone in our community would go out of their way to kill a tree like this, to drill 25 holes in it and fill them with herbicide,” City of Kelowna Infrastructure General Manager Mac Logan said back in May.

This isn't the first time a tree has been poisoned in Kelowna in recent years.

In the summer of 2022, a 60-year-old elm tree on Manhattan Drive and six Aspen trees in the Clarence Greenspace area were killed.

Photo: Nicholas Johansen

Holes drilled in the base of the tree in Sunset Drive Park.