No 16 year old is doing shit like that alone, unless its something related to a specific incident (gf cheated on him and she loved the tree or some shit). More likely to be a group of them…when i was that age we used to do some stupid things but it was always peer pressure or group idiocy.
Whether or not a 16 year old can operate a chainsaw…think thats plausible. They werent looking to drop it between houses or something. Turn it on and put it against the trunk…
my nephew was running a chainsaw at 14. so was I, with great care but only a Stihl 170. I have a 270 at home, sold my old Pioneer saw, that was a 70cc. had some serious torque, that machine. and ZERO guards.
my first job was at a rental shop at 14, learning how to clean/service equipment. sharpening blades, oil changes and tuning carbs. I just rebuilt the carb on my 270 a few weeks ago, somehow it got gummed up with sawdust.
NO.
The way to discourage behaviour like this is to spend thousands of government pounds counselling the perpetrator to gain an understanding of what made him/her do this.
This. Shouldn’t only be one tree there in the first place. They need to rewoodland most of the UK anyway.
Your not an normal Gordie though are you?
Aren’t you from Canada or some such place were walking round with chainsaws is deemed normal. 
Whilst I agree that a 16yo is unlikely do do something like this on their own, and yes could get the bisic operation of a chainsaw, but looking at the photos, the cleanness of the cut to me says that this is more likely to have been done by someone with experience of operating a chainsaw and cutting trees, although this is just my opnion so take it as you wish.
Personally, I would be looking into this kids family background, does the father, an older brother or cousins work in the tree surgery industry? Is any family member linked to any weird arse movement about preserving nature with a focus on anti tourism views? (this tree was a fairly reputable tourist attraction).
If he is only 16yrs old… they should drag the parent/s into the saga and try and put a charge against them… If he gets charged with criminal damage - WTF is that - £50 fine and don’t do it again slap on the wrist - mind you, an army of Lord Longford do-gooders no doubt will be on the defence council
@Flobs no joke, my home has a woodburning fireplace, I have a cord of wood chopped and stacked under my deck and our recreational property in the states is in the middle of a forest of spruce and cedar trees. a few times a year when storms blow through, we are having to cut fall trees up which are blocking the roads to get in/out.
That’s where those big Ford 1ton trucks come in handy as we have to tow the trees out of the way. my Santa Fe will pull 1500kg on a trailer, but not drag that weight down a gravel road
Police are looking for this guy…
Not sure it will take too long to find him… not as though he could blend-in with a crowd eh :0)
RIP young lady 
Bit late with this developing story the last few months with government now adding the American Bully to the list of banned breeds (why it’s taken this long when it’s been known for years there were dangerous I’ll never understand)…but evidently there will still be owners of these breeds out there walking the streets and regardless if you’re a responsible owner or not, if you’re caught with one without a lead and muzzle & there hasn’t been an attack…arrested on the spot on suspicion of attempted murder.
Beginning to feel like I need to visit it before it inevitably gets damaged beyond recognition.
Combine it with this.
Did it in 2017 on one of the hottest days of the year.
Torture
I’m not that masochistic, thankfully. Hope you enjoyed it though.
No
And get those useless Scottish bastards to do it.
Right?
Story by Ellissa Bain •1h
An old video of a cougar stalking a man for six whole minutes on a run has resurfaced this week and is terrifying everyone all over again.
The clip was filmed by a guy called Kyle Burgess who was running in Slate Canyon, Utah, when he was followed by the female mountain lion.
Cougarkyle YouTube© HITC (UK)
The man sees some baby wild cats and starts filming them in the viral video. Then, the mother appears and starts follow him.
The wild cat walks a few metres behind Burgess for a while as he fearfully shouts “No” and “Go away” with lots of expletives.
It continues stalking him quietly for two and a half minutes before growling and launching itself at the runner multiple times.
He tries growling in response to shoo the cat away but it doesn’t work, and the animal continues tracking him for six whole minutes.
Eventually, the guy throws a rock and the feline runs away down the stony path. He then says in relief: “Yeah, so that just happened.”
The video was originally shared on YouTube in 2020, but it was re-posted on Twitter this week by a viral account called @PicturesFoIder.
It’s had more than 19.2 million views and left everyone absolutely terrified.
One person wrote: “I would’ve had a heart attack.”
“I would’ve died. The way it’s running is so scary,” said another.
A third person added: “Longest six minutes of my life. That was insane.”
https://twitter.com/i/status/1713719893684809834
Speaking to CNN after the video went viral, the man explained that he didn’t run away for a very good reason.
“I felt like if I did anything sooner, she would have felt like I was attacking her baby cubs and It would have ended a lot differently,” he said.
The mountain lion was trying to protect her cubs after the runner walked up to the baby cats on the hiking trail.
He thought they were bobcats at first, but they were actually cougar cubs and their mother was not happy to see him.
Burgess added that he tried to look as big as he could to project strength, adding: “I’m not the biggest person… so this cougar could take me down in a heartbeat.”
However, in a YouTube description, Burgess claimed the cougar “had no intent on hurting me” and was just “caught off guard”.
The guy had me when he said… “Go Away, Please Go Away”… 
