The Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park had one of its priceless bonsai trees stolen, according to garden officials.
They say two individuals walked past the plant and grabbed it. The theft was captured on security cameras.
The tree is only worth around $500, according to the garden's operations manager, but it takes a lot of time, effort and dedication to keep the trees healthy.
"I would like to talk to the people who took it," Joe, the operations manager, said. "It has no value to you. You could bring it back to us. We're not going to press charges against you if you bring it back. It'd be nice if you brought it back. If you do have it, it requires a lot of work, and a lot of people don have time to take care of a plant like this and it might end up dying."
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Garden officials said something similar happened nine years ago. Anyone with information about the theft is asked to call the garden at
