Chainsaws and peacocks: Neighbours at war over trees

As the sun rises, a woman with a bucket full of apples goes about her work.

It's a fresh winter's morning in North Canterbury - the kind of dawn chill that most would choose to stay snuggled in bed for.

But not Maria Anna's Leo-lo-Shiva.

She's already cut over 10kg of donated apples and pushed them onto twigs that sprout on macrocarpa trees like a facial stubble.

It's a pretty picture with the apples lighting up the grey trunks like lanterns in a dull sky.

Around Leo-lo-Shiva, 60 feral peacocks roam the animal sanctuary she has set up as cats curl up in her bed in a barn amid cages and bulk bags of animal feed.

There's a cacophony of birdsong as she begins to fill trays with grain and seeds and dots them all around.

"I have been helping animals all my life," she says, as she works. "Since my childhood in Greece I was the one rescuing kittens. There's horrible animal welfare there ... no-one cares, and they think animals are dirty. I was born with empathy, love and compassion for animals."

It all looks idyllic, but Leo-lo-Shiva's passion has led to an ugly row with neighbour, Peter Ford, after he cut down and trimmed some trees in a macrocarpa shelterbelt that bounds the sanctuary with a chainsaw.

Although Leo-lo-Shiva knows Ford is entitled to cut his trees, she is devastated, due to the shelterbelt being an important part of the micro-ecosystem she has set up. Prior to the trim, the trees meant the sanctuary was enclosed, and were home to the peacocks, who roosted in them every night.

For Ford, it was a matter of safety and maintenance.

"They're my trees and I'm not taking them all down at once and I'm very environmentally friendly. Every time I take one tree out I plant two."

He's also critical of the animal sanctuary's role in multiplying pests like peacocks and rabbits.

But Leo-lo-Shiva sees it differently.

"More than 60 peacocks will be homeless and this important habitat will be lost for other birds - and we are talking about literally thousands of birds including many native New Zealand species," she says through tears.

"Unfortunately people do not think of the value of these trees and they want to remove this old mature shelter which would cause detrimental impact to the work we do for the birds."

While many people would look at the aged trees and wonder why anyone would want to protect them, Leo-lo-Shiva' has a different view.

"As human beings we don't understand," she breaks down. "We think they are just objects but they are living beings. The mother trees are extremely important because they support all the seedlings and all the young trees with their massive root systems, and they warn and communicate with them."

When the tree is about to die, she says, they give back by putting all their nutrients into the vegetation around them.

Leo-lo-Shiva claims Ford agreed not to touch the trees when he bought the property, but went back on his word and was soon using his chainsaw to make firewood.

Ford says he has only been cutting down the trees that were likely to fall, in order to protect both properties.

Six months ago Leo-lo-Shiva' offered to buy the strip of land the trees were on to protect them and the habitat they provided for her sanctuary.

Initially, Ford was willing to sell the strip for $30,000.

"I said to her if you want to keep them you can but they are dangerous. If you look at the height of them you'll know they are dangerous. Once we get a good wind through, they could fall either way."

However, Ford says the deal fell through when Leo-lo-Shiva and her partner said they could only pay $15,000 due to money being tied up in building sheds on the Eyrewell Forest property.

In July the feud escalated when Ford cut down two trees and de-limbed branches, leaving the peacocks without their home.

Distressed, Leo-lo-Shiva screamed and shouted at him as he cut and called him a demon. Then she donned a scarf adorned with mantras, and banged a large Tibetian gong which led to Ford describing her as "psychotic" to Stuff.

"I was praying, and I was fighting him," she nods towards the de-limbed branches, and the fence beside it that's now adorned with Tibetian prayer flags. Since then she has been lighting incense regularly to cleanse the area.

"I have been crying for days and I have been praying. I have also been meditating ... I'm a very spiritual person ... this sanctuary is my life mission - my legacy."

Since Leo-lo-Shiva launched the sanctuary in 2022 and set up registered charity Shiva Tara Aroha Sanctuary (S.T.A.R.S) she has worked long hours to secure food donations and has rescued many injured creatures using alternative medicine.

She doesn't discriminate, caring for animals considered pests as well as native birds, and knows that some people will find that odd.

"I'm a very individual person ... I serve the light. I serve the evolution of the soul and I serve whatever abides with the universal laws of consciousness, compassion, kindness and wisdom."

That individuality has now led to her taking the fight to save the trees to Waimakariri District Council mayor Dan Gordon who she hopes to meet next week.

In the meantime, she's appealing to the public to help the sanctuary in its fight.

"I hope for the sake of the organisation and the sake of the charity we will get the support and we will win the battle."

- This article was first published on Stuff