New reports indicate that a government contractor skipped the necessary quarantine required by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department by importing the palm trees from the mainland instead of directly from Australia.
Plants imported overseas are usually subject to stringent checks and quarantine for pests, and experts say had the trees been checked when they were imported, the trees could have been saved from the start. Imports from the mainland however, are exempt from such checks.
However, a source says that the palm trees were not stored in the mainland in order to exempt checks, but rather with so many exotic tree imports, there wasn’t enough space locally to have them in a temporary nursery.
The palm trees are said to have been a request by Disney, to ensure that all the theme parks’ landscaping are consistent with its headquarters in southern California.
Source: SCMP
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You would think at HKD100,000 a piece, the park would take good care of the palm trees dotted on Magic Road at Hong Kong’s Disneyland. Not!
Purchased from Australia and costing the government about HKD10 million in total, the palm trees are said to be dying, with their leaves drying up and turning yellow. The root of the cause is speculated to be attacks from foreign pests.
According to the SCMP, Though the park has been applying insecticides to the trees twice a week, because the trees have been subject to such bad conditions for so long, it’s unlikely they can be saved.
