Auburn University: Famous live oaks poisoned

Someone a poisonous knife into the hearts of the Auburn University football fans who learned Wednesday that the landmark live oak at Toomer's Corner deliberately poisoned and can not survive. The university in eastern Alabama confirmed a herbicide used to trees and brush were deliberately used in lethal quantities in the soil around the two 130-year-old oak on the edge of the campus to kill, next to the center of Auburn. 

"There is little chance of saving the trees," the university said in a statement.
 
Auburn University said it learned that a caller January 27 "The Paul Finebaum Show" in Birmingham claimed to have applied the herbicide. 

As a precaution, 33 soil samples taken the next day and were sent on January 29. The accelerated, final results came back Feb. 11 levels as a "very lethal dose," the school.
Crews quickly ordered activated carbon for the herbicide to record and to block its progress, university spokesman Mike Clardy told CNN Wednesday.
 
The caller claimed he poisoned the trees in late November or early December.
For generations of fans have flocked to the blue and orange trees (named after a historic drugstore on the opposite corner of the intersection) after football victories, throwing toilet paper rolls in the limbs of the tree. The last celebration was after the Tigers beat Oregon for the national championship on Jan. 10.
 
"It is the heartbeat of the place on weekends," said Clardy.
Within 90 minutes of the press release going out, involved about 200 students gathered at the oak trees, throwing toilet paper and singing school cheers. 

"It is a criminal act," City of Auburn Police Chief Tommy Dawson, a lifelong resident of the city, told CNN Wednesday. "It makes you sick to your stomach with what seems to be about a football game [for someone] to poison a living tree."
 
Dawson was mum on the details of the investigation, but said it was a top priority and he had assigned several detectives. He declined to comment on whether there are suspects, but said that there have been no arrests.
His department also serves as the police for the University.  When asked about the call to the radio show, Dawson said: "I think it's something we want to look."

The website of the Paul Finebaum Radio Network on Wednesday posted the audio and transcript of the conversation of a "From Dadeville.

"Let me tell you what I've done the weekend after the Iron Bowl [the annual University of Alabama-Auburn game]. I went to Auburn, Alabama because I live 30 miles away," said the caller.

"I poisoned the two Toomer the trees."

He indicated that he used Spike 80DF.

"They're not dead yet, but she will surely die," said the caller, saying he did not care if his actions were against the law.

"Al" ended his call with "Roll Tide Damn," said the show transcript.

Auburn beat Alabama 28-27 in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 26, 2010.

The university has learned the herbicide Spike 80DF or tebuthiuron, and is manufactured by Dow Chemical.

According to the Dow website, Spike is used for long-term brush and broadleaf weeds, especially along fence rows. Usually applied by spraying.

Auburn University, which maintains the oak, does not use Spike, according to Clardy.
A representative of Dow Chemical is to advise the university on the removal proceedings and expert gardeners are also consulted, according to Auburn.

Samples were sent to the state because of the small fire that occurred in a laboratory on campus.

Scott McElroy, an assistant professor of agronomy at Auburn, said: "The Paul Finebaum Show" Wednesday that the herbicide used correctly, but the application to the live oak was "evil." According to Auburn, even a normal application is enough to kill trees.

"We are the extent of the damage assessment and act as if we have a chance to save the trees," said Gary Kiefer, an Auburn University professor of horticulture and a member of Auburn's Tree Preservation Committee. "We also focus on the protection of other trees and shrubs in Samford Park. At this level the impact is much greater than the oaks on the corner, as Spike moves through the soil to a wide area."

University President Jay Gogue asked members of the Auburn Family "continue" all in "in defending his reputation for class and not allow anger to be expressed incorrectly, the university said.
The Toomer's oaks are facing threats, but nothing as deadly. 

In 2009, the university supported their limbs, their roots expanded area and replace bricks with concrete so the water would flow into a healthier way Clardy said.