Officials have advised an 'amnesty' for thieves who pilfered tree climbing equipment from the NZ Arbor gear trailer at the 2012 Waikato Regional TCC in an effort to stop senior tree climbers from taking the law into their own hands should the culprits be caught.
Investigations to date suggest the crime was committed by climbers competing in the Waikato TCC and not opportunist members of the public.
The items stolen where part of a donation made to NZ Arbor by DMM, Teufelberger and the Treemagineers on their visit to New Zealand last year. Each piece of equipment is individually numbered with sequences not common to the New Zealand market so they should be easy to identify during work-related or competition gear checks.
There has been continual 'knocking' of NZ Arbor in the social media over the last few months which has possibly led some misguided individuals into thinking it is their right to take gear from the TCC trailer.
Nothing could be further from the truth! The gear belongs to everyone in the tree climbing community and without NZ Arbor and volunteer support the TCC's simply would not exist in New Zealand.
If you have the gear (or know who the culprits are) please return it to someone you know to be associated with the tree climbing competitions - no questions asked! Or send it back to Treetools in an unmarked package - again, no questions asked.
Or… pray you don't get caught with this stolen equipment!
Sample number only
