Pear trees stripped in raid on orchard (A Slice of Life DownUnder)

Manawatu Standard (New Zealand) ^ | 21 March 2006 | MICHAEL CUMMINGS

[DieHard the Hunter]

Pear trees stripped in raid on orchard

21 March 2006
By MICHAEL CUMMINGS

A gang of thieves has stripped bare a Levin orchard of thousands of dollars worth of nashi pears.

A Marlborough couple, who asked only to be identified as Glenn and Mary, arrived at their recently purchased lifestyle block on Hokio Sands Road to find the fruit on all but four of the more than 100 nashi trees gone.

Four weeks later, after they had moved into their new home, the final four trees were also raided.

The couple will run sheep and cattle on the 6-hectare property but were planning to harvest the crop of nashi pears, thought to be worth about $5000.

"I had already come up (to Levin) to look at the trees and was pretty stoked with how they were doing," Glenn said.

"It looked like a bumper crop."

The theft is not the warmest welcome to their new home, he says.

"Yeah, 'gutted' is the word to describe it, really."

The orchard is accessible but not easily seen from the road, and the thieves would have needed to be well organised, he said.

"You'd need a truck and a gang of people to do it overnight.

"It's pretty cheeky."

Glenn had already made arrangements to have the orchard assessed and valued and now plans to beef up security before the next crop fruits.

"They won't be doing it again because this place will be lit up like a Christmas tree."

Glenn has started to organise a neighbourhood watch group as a result of the theft.

Senior Constable Allan Ward of Levin police describes the case is "slightly bizarre".

"They turned up expecting a lush orchard and someone's nicked it all," Snr Const Ward told the Manawatu Standard.

"Certainly we're dealing with an organised group. It's not like it's a roadside thing, there's been a concerted effort made."

Police have no leads on who is responsible.

"We can't assume anything but we'd suspect they'd sell it on to fruit buyers," he said.

Police have dropped flyers appealing for information about the theft in letterboxes in the area.

[DieHard the Hunter]

An example of how low crims can go.

Do crimes like this happen in the USA? Even by New Zealand standards, this crime stands out in my mind as being petty and mean.

What kind of criminal scroat strips somebody else's orchard of its entire crop of Nashi Pears? OK it's not Crime of the Century, but it's pretty rotten all the same.

And what kind of buyer purchases them? They don't have a particularly long shelf-life: they are no good in about a week (unless properly cold-stored).

Clearly, this was a steal-to-order crime. This never used to happen in New Zealand: it is a new phenomenon.

[JRios1968]

Is the partridge safe?

[Chickensoup]

I bet there is strict gun control in NZ.

[Spruce]

Up here, we have asshats that will come through and chop the tops off of 40+year old conifers to sell as christmas trees in the cities. Usually results in a diseased/dead tree.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> I bet there is strict gun control in NZ.

You bet right. Just *try* to own a pistol here...

[Cicero]

I'm not sure what a nashi pear is, but actually I'm more interested in knowing what a "lifestyle block" is. It sounds like something out of Vogue or Hollywood Today.

In any case, it was a mean thing to do.

[Will_Zurmacht]

out here in KS people will occassionally steal corn from a field or somesuch...usually it'll just be a few rednecks loading up the back of a pickup. Seems a bit of overkill for a keg party/bar b q.

most farmers here will look the other way if it's a small matter, however folks who do this run the risk of getting shot.

[Chickensoup]

You bet right. Just *try* to own a pistol here...



In places where there is gun control, crimes like these become more commonplace. No fear.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> I'm not sure what a nashi pear is, but actually I'm more interested in knowing what a "lifestyle block" is.

Fair enough question: a "lifestyle block" is for city folk who want to be country folk part-time, if that makes any sense. Maybe ten acres or so: not enough to be sustainable as a proper farm but, with a job in the city and spare time invested, enough to enjoy a country lifestyle.

So this couple had a hundred trees plus some room to run a few cattle: not enough to make ends meet as a farm by itself, but when combined with a city job, enough to be lead a fairly comfortable, semi-rural "lifestyle" -- hence the term "lifestyle block".

As to a "Nashi" pear: in North America you might call 'em "Chinese Pears": generally, they are round in shape, taste like a sweet pear, and are very, very crisp in texture: unusually so. Quite nice, definitely.

[JimSEA]

As to a "Nashi" pear: in North America you might call 'em "Chinese Pears": generally, they are round in shape, taste like a sweet pear, and are very, very crisp in texture: unusually so

Salee in Thai, fantastic and the best ones sold at Carrefore(sp?) or Lotus are from NZ. The markets at Chiang Sean have boxes of them coming from China, down the Mekong. They are worth quite a bit and are one of the more expensive fruit in Thailand. I can see guarding the orchard.

[The Noodle]

Similar to a "gentleman farmer" here in the U.S. (at least that was the old term for it).

[DieHard the Hunter]

> Salee in Thai, fantastic and the best ones sold at Carrefore(sp?) or Lotus are from NZ.

So you reckon that this particular raid might have been intended for the export market...?

Interesting. And it makes perfect sense.

[Spruce]

A man's best defense against this sort of crap is a couple good dogs and a shotgun full of rock salt.

A local reputation for biting dogs and marksmanship travels far.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> A man's best defense against this sort of crap is a couple good dogs and a shotgun full of rock salt.

I gotta laugh!

Mate, when I was a kid in the '70's I got shot in the arse with rock salt, whist riding my bike thru an apple orchard, ripping off fruit and being a bl*ody nuisance, as kids do.

Owch! Not Funny! Not funny at all!!!

Never made that mistake again.

[Bazooka]

Point taken: if crims know they could be facing an angry owner of a shotgun, they think twice before stealing anything. But bearing in mind that in Australia you can already find yourself in court for hurting someone's feelings....do you think you can stop anyone robbing you, by means of force of any kind?
On the other hand, it could be the only sensible way. If you have enough firepower to make a mess of any vehicles that are involved, and know how to swing a punch, that seems to be the only thing that today's crims have any respect for: someone that's crazier than themselves.
But personally, I'd choose the dogs. There's not much that a thief can do against a couple of good pig dogs or so. Besides, dogs are good company.

[reformedliberal]

They sell retail for US$1/each even at Walmart, here in the States. Also, they store well and last longer than regular pears.

One of our favorites, actually. They have become more and more available over the past few years. They used to be gourmet rarities.