A hole has been left where a 2m high pony tail palm tree once stood at Te Puna Quarry Park.

Volunteers arrived at the park yesterday to make the 'awful discovery”, says a post on the Te Puna Quarry Park Facebook Page.

'Some low life thieving people had stolen our 2m high pony tail palm and left a gaping hole in the ground,” the post goes onto say.

'It's so disheartening to have this happen. We work hard, we work for love of the place.”

The palm had been there over 12 years.

The park says it would've been very heavy, so several people with a ute or trailer would have been involved.

'Will these nasty people be caught? Most unlikely.

'But if anyone should hear of a big pony tail palm appearing somewhere in the near future (its Christmas isn't it), we'd like to hear about it.”