Beware the Pink Stink

With Christmas fast approaching, Christmas tree poaching is on the rise. Between people unable to afford (or unwilling) to spend money on a tree and too selfish to go without, prize evergreens seem to go missing from people's yards and public grounds.

To combat the trend, some organizations and municipalities take drastic action. Some, like the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Washington State University, combat the poaching with odor. While the cold tends to keep the smell down on campus, in the warmth of someone's home, the treatments of fox urine or skunk oil quickly stink up the poacher's Christmas, if they can't heed the warning signs.

Cornell University and New York's Department of Transportation take a more garish approach to deter those illegally seeking free trees. They use an "Ugly Mix" of food coloring to discolor the trees. While the trees do nothing to spruce up the neighborhoods in the month until the mix fades, the trees remain to be enjoyed during the coming year.