The child of two homeowners recently turned to the internet for advice after cameras caught one of their parents' neighbors dumping an unknown substance into their flower bed.
"Hi everyone!" the poster wrote, sharing in the r/BadNeighbors subreddit. "My parents are away but they are having some crazy neighbours disputes which caused me to put up some cameras. This clown poured some unknown substance into my parents flower garden, just looking to identify it. We are from southern Ontario Canada. Thanks everyone!"
The other members of the subreddit were shocked and horrified, and they quickly jumped on the case.
"From what I can see in the image, the closest resembling product appears to be a gallon of bleach. Specifically, it looks similar to jugs from brands like Clorox or Great Value bleach, which are commonly found in a white plastic jug with a handle and often used for cleaning purposes," one commenter deduced.
"The shape, handle, and size strongly suggest it's a bleach or cleaning solution rather than a food product like milk or juice, given the context of the outdoor scene and the fact that bleach containers are typically used in situations like cleaning, which aligns with the presence of a bucket."
The original poster later clarified that the longtime neighbor had threatened physical violence against their father multiple times and wondered if the police should be involved. "Would this be classified as more than [a] civil dispute then?" they asked.
Eventually, the poster did call the police, who arrived and issued some sort of warning to the neighbor to stop doing whatever it was they were doing.
In many of the instances in which someone gets mad at their neighbor for killing their plants with toxic chemicals, the chemicals came in the form of weed killers that were applied without proper knowledge or forethought. In these cases, it can be helpful to have a friendly conversation with your neighbor about which types of products are safe to use.
Herbicides and pesticides made out of toxic chemicals should generally be avoided whenever possible, as they harm the entire ecosystem, not just the targeted plants and pests. Thankfully, there are nontoxic options available.
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That does not appear to have been the case here, however, if the neighbor was indeed threatening violence and dumping something potentially harmful on flowers. In this type of case, all that we can really hope is that the neighbor drops their grievance and does not harm any additional plants or people.
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