A decades-old Tamarisk tree along the Sliema Ferries promenade has been chopped down, with nobody bothering to consult or inform the town's local council. 

The Sliema Local Council appealed for information about who was responsible for chopping down the tree, after Times of Malta forwarded a photo submitted by a reader. 

"Its foliage used to cover an area of several square metres. It was by far the most magnificent tree on Tigne sea front. Who has murdered it?" the reader asked. 

As residents shared the council's Facebook post asking for information, others came forward and said the tree had been cut down after part of it snapped in high winds and fell onto a hawker's van parked alongside it. 

"I did NOT break the tree," the hawker wrote on Facebook. "I reported [it] to the fire station... and [a] few weeks ago they came to cut it." 

Another man corroborated that and added that government workers "came early morning to remove the mess as it was literally blocking the whole pavement."

Photos suggest that high winds caused the tree significant damage, although it is questionable whether the damage necessitated the tree to be cut down completely. 

Sliema councillor  Michael Briguglio was left completely aghast.

"Instead of being pruned to remove the fallen branches, the tree was brutally and unnecessarily chopped off from the main trunk," he told Times of Malta.