Three Dinosaur Statues Stolen From Ogden Park
Mar 5, 2020, 7:00 PM | Updated: Mar 6, 2020, 12:49 pm
UPDATE: Ogden’s George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park posted an update on Facebook that the dinosaurs had been found: “Thank you all for the outpouring of love and for sharing the story about our Dino’s!” according to the post. “They were found and recovered today!”
OGDEN, Utah – Three dinosaur statues have gone missing from Ogden’s George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park. They were ripped from their mounts with some kind of power tool.
“We had one about where I’m standing, one back behind me here, and then one pouncing on top of this Tyrannosaurus,” said Education Director Jeff Bond.
Park employees say thieves managed to avoid their security cameras, and then took the dinosaurs over the back fence. Bond says the raptors had been at the park for more than 15 years, and they were just recently refurbished.
“They’re worth about $10,000-$20,000, but made out of fiberglass, so not a lot of resale value,” he said. “But they were worth a lot in terms of teaching visitors here.”
The raptors were also apparently damaged more as they were taken over the back fence. There were some feet that fell off.
“It’s rude. It’s like we can’t enjoy things without people ruining for other people,” said Michelle Spencer.
Artist Kirk Larsen recently put many hours into making the roughly 15-year-old raptors look brand new. He stopped by to check on them and noticed the missing statues.
“Why would someone steal them?” Larsen said. “What purpose do they have with three statues? What are they going to do with them?”
The raptors are used to teach thousands of kids.
“Even if we get the dinosaurs back, it’s still going to take us time to repair, and that means that that’s an exhibit that’s still out of commission,” Bond said.
The raptors were used to teach a lot of kids, 25,000 in field trips each year alone. Anyone with knowledge about who took the dinosaurs is asked to call Ogden Police.
