Instead of making lemonade some people are hanging lemons stuck with needles in public parks.
Putting the lemons in harms way of people and pets has prompted Coquitlam RCMP to ask people to stop the activity and to encourage people to call police if they see one of these spiky, hanging lemons instead of disposing of the evidence.
So far there have been two instances of someone tying lemons stuck with sewing needles to tree branches — both in Port Coquitlam — police say.
The first lemon was found hung from a branch in Gates Park on June 22. A report was made in an email to the city of Port Coquitlam. The second lemon was found on Tuesday, July 14, tied near a trail by the Coquitlam River at Whyte Avenue. That discovery was reported with an email to a closed Community Police Station.
One of the lemons was reported on Facebook and subsequently commented on in the Tri-City News.
Are they a dangerous new trend?
Police want to know if sticking needles in lemons and tying them to trees in a public park is an attempt to harm people or for some other purpose.
Some have claimed that it’s connected to witchcraft or voodoo, and a report four years ago in the U.S. found a similar occurrence.
What ever the reason, police want to hear from those who are tying these potentially dangerous lemons to a tree.
“If you see something that could be a deliberate attempt at harm, you must call police on the phone rather than send an email,”, stated Corporal Michael McLaughlin in a press release.
“Both of these lemons were thrown into the garbage by the people who found them. By the time police received the emails, the evidence was gone and an investigation was virtually impossible”.
One theory is that the person who left the lemons had no intention to hurt anyone. Until police speak to that person, it’s hard to be sure.
“If you are leaving these lemons full of needles in public, we ask that you stop, and then talk to us to explain what you were doing”, McLaughlin further stated.
If anyone spots someone doing this, they are asked to call the Coquitlam RCMP non-emergency number at 604-945-1550, or call 911 “if it’s happening right in front of you”.
