Law enforcement rangers at Saguaro National Park are searching for a vandal or vandals who chopped down eight of the iconic cactuses on the west side of the park earlier this month.

The saguaros that were slashed open and cut down on the park’s Scenic Trail ranged from 1 to 10 feet in height. Park rangers believe the vandalism occurred on or around Oct. 3.

Photos of the damage show the saguaros crudely hacked apart and sawed off, with the top of one of the cactuses toppled across the hiking trail.

“Saguaro cacti grow very slowly and hold special significance to the people who live here. A 10-foot cactus could easily be 100 years old, and it was killed in a senseless act of vandalism,” said park superintendent Leah McGinnis in a written statement Wednesday.

Park officials are asking for the public’s help to identify those responsible.

Anyone who visited the Scenic Trail, Passey Loop Trails or the Scenic Drive Trailhead around Oct. 3 and might have information about the incident is asked to call the park service’s Investigative Services Branch tipline at 1-888-653-0009, send an email to nps_isb@nps.gov, or submit a tip online at tucne.ws/1fx1.

Wild animals and outdoor enthusiasts could one day hike freely between Saguaro National Park and Pima County’s Sweetwater Preserve, thanks to a land acquisition announced this week. More info: http://tucne.ws/1fco (Video taken by Henry Brean / Arizona Daily Star on the land that was just added to Saguaro National Park’s Tucson Mountain District)

Information can be provided anonymously.

“You don’t have to tell us who you are, but please tell us what you know,” park service officials said in the statement. “Even a small detail may help rangers identify those responsible and find justice for the saguaros.”

As McGinnis put it: “All plants, animals, and resources in the national park are protected. Damage to saguaro cacti is especially disheartening because they are the reason for the park’s establishment.”

The split 91,716-acre preserve bracketing Tucson had more than 1 million visitors last year.

Vandalism like this is rare, said park spokeswoman Andy Fisher.

“It’s an unusual thing for the cacti to be damaged,” Fisher said. “We are blessed by the fact that the Tucson community really cares about its saguaros.”

The last major incident involving the park’s namesake cactus came in 2016, when vandals damaged nine saguaros and several prickly pear and cholla cactuses along the Gould Mine Trail in the park’s Tucson Mountain District. Fisher said no arrests were ever made in that case.

In 2013, a teenager was arrested on a felony count of vandalism for spray-painting 11 cacti and 30 other objects, such as rocks, posts and signs in the park’s east-side Rincon Mountain District.

Also that year, two men turned themselves in after surveillance photos showed them damaging a saguaro, cutting branches from a palo verde tree and shearing off the tops of two barrel cactuses.

They pleaded guilty to misdemeanor vandalism charges in 2014 and were sentenced to one year of probation, 30 hours of community service and fined $458 each. In an unusual move, the federal judge also ordered the men to chop a half-cord of wood with an axe.

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Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@tucson.com or 520-573 4283. On Twitter: @RefriedBrean