A veterinarian in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland has described the dangers of phoenix palm spikes, after a video posted to social media showed one being surgically removed.
Dr Bianca Mercer, a vet at Ōnewa Road Veterinary Hospital, told Newshub at her clinic they've surgically removed "four big ones" that have been lodged in pets in the past year alone.
"We had one that was pulled out of a knee and we had one actually in the intestines of a kitten," she said.
The main risk of phoenix palm spikes are infections, Dr Mercer added.
"I'm not sure about other clinics but definitely more common than you would like I'd have to say."
Dr Mercer's colleague posted a video on X last week showing her surgically removing a phoenix palm spike from a cat's abdomen.
The worst case was when her colleague extracted a spike about 9cm long from a cat's head last year, which was just millimetres away from its eye.
"We went to pull it out and it just keeps going," Dr Mercer said.
Phoenix palms originate from the Canary Islands (Las Islas Canarias) in Spain, and can grow up to 18m tall.
Their long spikes can snap off and lodge deep into animal and human skin. The trees also attract pests like mice, rats, and pigeons.
Dr Mercer said her clinic has treated three cats and one dog over recent months, but they can injure any animal.
She also urged against pulling the spikes out yourself.
"Just in case these things can be a lot longer than you think and you never know what they might be touching or impacting," she told Newshub.
Surgeries can be complicated, Dr Mercer said, but it depends on where it is lodged in the body.
"We have to check that there's no bits of the spike left behind, then we give everything a good flush out to try and prevent infection."
She said removing a spike from a dog's knee was "a lot more complicated" than if it were just underneath the skin.
But it's not just pets at risk.
In 2019, poet and gardener Janice Marriot found out how debilitating getting pricked by a phoenix palm spike could be.
“I felt this prick, just a tiny little prick and the pain just four hours later was just excruciating and the finger was the size of a small banana," she told RNZ at the time.
And Coromandel man Andrew Faulkner was pruning dead phoenix palm fronds on his property several years ago, without gloves, and a spike got lodged inside the knuckle joint of his finger, Stuff reported.
It got badly infected, and he required intravenous antibiotics.
In 2019, ACC paid out about $380,000 for 741 claims for injuries due to phoenix palm spikes, and the number of claims has continued to rise.
Most claims come from Auckland, followed by Northland and Waikato.
Auckland Council deems phoenix palms to be a pest plant, and there is a ban on selling, propagating, or distributing them.
Eight trees were protected on Kawau Island, but in early 2020 they were drilled and deliberately poisoned, according to the Department of Conservation.
Arborists suggest having the right protection and techniques to remove phoenix palm trees, or just get an expert to remove them.
