The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is asking mourners visiting Sanam Luang, who come to pay respects to the late king, to stop throwing garbage into the bases of the 783 tamarind trees scattered around the area.
Since the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej passed away last month, the Sanam Luang area is crowded with mourners, who have been using the trees as places to dispose cooking fluids and oils, leftover food and other garbage.
Now, the beautiful, century-old trees are dying.
City officials have already made a move to save 200 of the most threatened tamarind trees.
By sinking pipes into the ground to drain excess fluid and improve airflow to the roots, they hope to stop the rotting that’s going on underground as the trees have been, essentially, choked by the oils and other foreign liquids.
Lime has since been added to the soil to balance the acidity, and sandbags have been placed at the trees’ bases to protect them further, reported Thai PBS.
It should take two weeks more for workers to put the protective measures in place for all the trees in the area.
