How (and why) somebody would steal a 12-foot-tall, full-body polar bear mount is anybody’s guess
The complete-body polar bear mount stood 12 toes tall and weighed round 500 kilos. Picture obtained by Outside Life from Royal Canadian Mounted Police
When workers at Alberta’s Lionsheart Wholeness Heart returned to work after a chilly snap that hit over the weekend of Jan. 13, it took them some time to note that one thing was mysteriously absent from the agricultural retreat middle. In some way, a 12-foot-tall, full-body polar bear mount that had lengthy presided over the second flooring had vanished into skinny air.
It wasn’t till Jan. 22 that workers have been capable of report the lacking taxidermy bear, nicknamed Harry, to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. As of Jan. 29, investigators nonetheless hadn’t recognized any suspects.
There have been, nonetheless, some clues left behind. The cables that had as soon as secured the bear had been minimize, and there have been drag marks on the ground from the place the thieves dragged the 500-pound piece of taxidermy throughout the balcony. In some way, they managed to get the mount down the stair and thru the double entrance doorways.
“It needed to be deliberate,” govt director Wanda Rowe informed the St. Albert Gazette, including that the thieves probably had a working automobile ready to choose them up and drive the bear away. “It 100% needed to be deliberate.”
The middle is normally below around-the-clock safety, however officers had been despatched house as a result of plunging temperatures. That 24/7 safety was the results of a distinct taxidermy heist that occurred in August 2023, when two full-body-mount raccoons have been stolen.
The middle can also be at present house to different taxidermy as effectively, which the thieves left unhurt. These items embody a cougar, a bison, a number of deer, and a musk ox. The Redwater RCMP estimate the whole value of the polar bear and two raccoons round $35,000.
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Taxidermy theft is a surprisingly pervasive difficulty. It takes a particular sort of lowlife to justify stealing the pinnacle, conceal, or antlers of an animal {that a} totally different individual labored to reap. Deer and elk hunters are all too conversant in antlers disappearing from their entrance yards and autos. Taxidermy work is dear and fascinating, which drives a number of the demand for it. In fact, some taxidermy heists are additionally pranks, regardless of how troublesome and clunky they’re to drag off.
Redwater RCMP are asking for the general public’s assist in discovering Harry. Anybody with info can name their workplace at 780-942-3607 or submit an nameless tip here.
