Overview

• Kiel’s botanical garden counts at least 20 thefts since 2012, with two larger incidents this year including an April raid and a mid‑August loss of freshly potted succulents, agaves and Dasylirion.
• Thieves have cut fences, broken into locked areas and smashed greenhouse windows, and an earlier case left large columnar cacti sliced with a machete.
• Staff in Kiel say the roughly eight‑hectare site cannot be continuously monitored and cameras are not used due to employee‑protection policies.
• Greifswald reports one to two thefts per month during the season, with trendy succulents and aroids often targeted and some attempts killing or jeopardizing remaining plants.
• Police records vary by city: one complaint in Kiel this year, none registered in Greifswald for 2024–2025, two reports tied to Rostock in 2023–2024, and Hamburg cites few recent cases as tropical houses stay closed ahead of a new facility planned for 2026.