Trail of destruction on Penang Hill

Along death row: A hiker who stumbled upon the girdled trees inspecting the extent of the damage on the bark of a tree recently hacked off. A full grown tree (left) that was girdled earlier is infested with termites. — LO TERN CHERN/The Star

GEORGE TOWN: About 40 mature trees along the Penang Hill range were found to have been severely vandalised by unknown parties.

The trees along the hiking trail between Station 39 and Station 45, about a kilometre behind the Penang Turf Club and Ayer Itam’s Rifle Range Flats, were found hacked with the use of sharp instruments to ensure their slow death, a method called girdling or ring-barking.