Historic Old Oaks Being Poisoned in Louisiana

ABBEVILLE, La. — Authorities say that more than a dozen oak trees, including some placed on a national tree register, have been poisoned in the area in the last three months.

Vermilion Parish County Agent Howard Cormier said the poison, believed to be a herbicide similar to the one that almost killed the historic Treaty Oak in Austin, Tex., has reached the vascular systems of some of the trees and probably will kill them.

One of the poisoned trees is a live oak that is eight feet in diameter and is 150 to 200 years old. Nine trees in Abbeville and five more outside the city limits have been reported poisoned, Cormier said.