Hundreds of tires illegally dumped on Oak Grove family's property

An Oak Grove family is furious after someone dumped nearly a thousand tires on their property two weeks ago. What's even more amazing -- is that it was in the middle of the day and not an easy crime to commit.

"It is definitely a crime, that's why we called police and they took a report," Bob Irwin, whose aunt and uncle own the property, said. "But they have no way of tracking them down."

Smack dab in the middle of a dirt road on farmland that has been in the Irwin family for generations, someone unloaded the enormous pile of tires.

"I've been coming out here since I was a baby," Bob said. "So it was like I was violated. That's the best way I can describe it, I felt violated."

One pile was spotted at 1 p.m., and when the family came back one hour later, there was a second pile nearby. The big truck broke through branches to bully its way through.

The Irwin family didn't know what they were going to do after getting a quote of $10 per tire to get them removed. Bob's 85-year-old aunt and uncle own the property and are on a fixed income, so that price made the family even more upset.

"As angry as the landowners are, there is a bit of good news here," Bob said. "The Metropolitan Mosquito Control District has agreed to pick them up free of charge. They say that's what they do -- they recycle 20,000 to 30,000 tires a year because they're such a nesting breeding ground for mosquitoes."

Tires in wooded areas attract treehole mosquitoes that can spread a particularly dangerous strain of encephalitis, so the Irwins were very relieved to hear there was help on the way. But they still want to catch the bad guys.