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Poachers chop at redwood trees to earn money for drugs

Some of the tallest trees in the world are under threat from poachers who have found an unlikely target.

Huge knots of wood, or burls, which grow out of ancient redwood trees in northern California can be amputated from the tree, polished, then sold for thousands of dollars as table-tops and ornaments.

Parts of the Redwood National and State Park have been closed off after a 400-year-old tree was cut down and as more and bigger burls are being taken near former logging towns where the economy has collapsed.

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Date: 
Thursday, May 29, 2014