Fined £75, the man who pinned up a sign and 'harmed a living tree'
By Luke Salkeld
Last updated at 12:18 AM on 11th April 2009
After losing two of his prized paintings, Anton Cataldo decided to make
a direct appeal to the public.
The 28-year-old artist, who specialises in pet portraits, made posters
of his missing paintings and pinned them to half a dozen trees in his
local park.
He included his phone number and email address as well as the offer of a
£100 reward for their safe return.
But the only message he received was from a council official who took
exception to Mr Cataldo's use of the local fauna - and fined him £75 for
harming the 'living' trees.
The email said the council had been made aware of the artist's decision
to search for his lost property and said: 'Some of these posters had
been stapled to trees. You appear to have little understanding that
trees are living things.
'Wounding the bark of a tree in any way can lead to attack by airborne
fungal spores which, in the worst-case scenario, could lead to the loss
of the tree.'
The email, from a Brighton and Hove City Council enforcement officer,
went on to inform Mr Cataldo that while several of his posters had
already been taken down by the council, he should make every effort to
remove the rest himself.
It read: 'Whilst we accept that the subject matter of these posters has
sentimental value to you, we simply can not allow every person who loses
property to resort to the kind of actions as taken by yourself.
'The city council will, on occasions, permit residents or charities to
attach posters to its property in cases, for example, where pets go
missing or to raise funds, but, as I have said, not for the purpose of
trying to locate lost property.'
The email ended: 'We genuinely hope that the paintings are found and
returned to yourself.'
Mr Cataldo, a Brighton resident whose artistic endeavours supplement his
income as a part-time carer, painted the portraits of his parents'
labradors, Oscar and Sam, last October and said they had added
sentimental value after 17-year-old Sam later died.
He then gave the 8in by 12in wood-framed pictures to his parents -
Mario, a 56-year-old IT consultant, and Dwenda, 58 - to put up in their
home in Uckfield, East Sussex.
He later borrowed them to take to a job interview as part of his
portfolio. It was on his return that they went missing.
He said: 'I put them on my car roof while I unlocked the door outside my
studio in Brighton but then drove off with them still on the roof.
'I feel really stupid. The paintings obviously slid off on the way to my
parents house about 20 miles away but there is no way of knowing where.
I did everything I could think of to find them. I put adverts on
websites, left flyers in pubs and put up posters. I really had no idea I
might be doing anything wrong.
'I found the council email quite patronising. I'm not an expert but I
doubt very much that a staple could cause so much damage to a tree that
it would actually die.'
He continued: 'I'm quite a considerate person and I would never
knowingly do anything to harm a tree. I didn't realise there was a law
about putting posters up, as you often see them around.
Mr Cataldo complained to the council about the fine, which has since
been cancelled. A council spokesman said: 'This was probably a case of
an officer who was a little bit over-zealous.
Http://www.dailymai
sign-harmed-
Saturday, 11 April 2009
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