Joke before Halloween

Flesh-eating pine tree “ate” a small dog

A prankster mounted a plastic skeleton of a small dog at a height of around twelve meters. How remains a mystery.(Bild: Doris Seebacher)

Hikers were amazed when they suddenly discovered a dog skeleton at lofty heights in the "Fleischesserföhre" natural monument in the Sierningtal-Flatzer Wand Nature Park. Fortunately, it was just a joke - the dummy is made of plastic.  

The days are getting shorter and shorter, the fog is rolling in - and the spooky festival of Halloween, which is also becoming increasingly popular here in Lower Austria, is just around the corner. There is no other explanation for the fact that an unknown person has now placed a scary dummy on Ternitz's local mountain, the Gössing. At a height of around twelve meters, walkers discovered a dog skeleton in an autumnal treetop of the 28-meter-high natural monument. It is, of course, made of plastic and therefore not a case for the authorities. And the fact that the giant tree is also a so-called meat-eater pine underlines the joking nature of the action. For close observers of the local fauna, the creepy find is nevertheless a surprise: "I wonder above all how the prankster made it to these lofty heights in the first place," says one amused observer.

A side note: the background to the name "Fleischesserföhre" comes from the Flatz farmer of the same name, who - having died in 1945 - once planted this tree.