Pokémon Go Trainers Damaging Botanical Gardens

The Akureyri Botanical Gardens have been experiencing significant damages lately from unwanted guests who trespass on the grounds playing Pokémon Go.

Vísir reports that the gardens have three Pokéstops and one Gym, with an additional Pokéstop just outside the grounds, which makes it particularly attractive to Pokémon Go trainers in the small north Icelandic town. However, not all of these trainers show the area its due respect, and management says they have asked the developers to remove the Pokéstops and the gym, to no avail.

“When we close at ten o’ clock in the evening, that’s when these people stream in here,” project manager at the gardens Guðrún Kristín Björgvinsdóttir told reporters. “They climb over the fence, grab a chair [from the garden’s café], and have fun in the garden. They damage the chairs, break them, and toss them up into the trees.”

Trainers have also engaged in other forms of petty vandalism, such as leaving cigarette butts on the ground, breaking flower pots, and trampling flowers.

Pokémon Go has proven incredibly popular in Iceland, and while the game is great fun, the game developers themselves have advised people not to trespass when playing. It should also be noted that parking yourself at a Gym over a long period of time is highly unsporting towards other players.

The Grapevine advises all Pokémon Go trainers in Iceland to respect the areas in which they engage in training, collecting and battling.