Man ordered to cut down tree after neighbor complained it made him afraid and itchy

The owner of a 21-metre kauri pine in Queensland, Australia, has been ordered to cut down the 50-year-old backyard tree, after his neighbor complained it made him itchy, afraid and caused damage.

Michael Collins told a tribunal when he went into his southside Brisbane backyard, or even slept on sheets dried on the clothes line, he broke out in itchy red blotches. He said allergy tests had confirmed he suffered a reaction to the Queensland kauri pine’s pollen.

But the Tarragindi tree owner Alan McNeil, who is still fighting to save the kauri, suggested his neighbor wear a face mask in his own backyard, or stay indoors. Mr Collins says he and his family live in constant fear of the neighbors’ overhanging tree toppling in a severe storm and claims they have been bruised and cut by falling pine cones.

Mr Collins has been trying to get his neighbor to get rid of the tree since 1989 and now a Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal member has ordered it be removed within 28 days. But Mr McNeil, who also was ordered to pay his neighbor $2,365 compensation, has appealed the decision, which could end up costing him thousands of dollars for the tree removal.