As statue thefts appear to be on the rise, Tara Ward takes a look back at some of the nation’s most shocking sculpture crimes. 

Bronze may well be the least desirable Olympic medal, but to some New Zealanders, it’s the most alluring of them all. Recently, a number of bronze statues around the motu have been disappearing in the middle of the night, taken by thieves desperate to free their communities from the terrifying sight of cute little animals cemented to a plinth. Worst of all, it seems no public sculpture is safe.

Just this week, a Christchurch artwork was pinched 24 hours after it was installed (and later found 100m away), while a peace bell that marked friendship between Japan and New Zealand was nicked from an Auckland public garden. These crimes follow a number of statue thefts over the past few years, including a cow purloined from an Auckland aged care facility, a tiny Kiwi pilfered from Whakatāne, and a carved sculpture removed from the Port Hills summit in Christchurch. What next – the Romney ram statue in Gore? The Ōhakune carrot?? Heaven forbid, Tuatapere’s big sausage??!!!

The Spinoff does not have any hard data on the apparent escalation of statue theft, but like a 60kg bronze eel being sawn off its plinth, we can feel it in our waters that something bad is happening. Perhaps these criminals are hoping to make their fortune by selling the statues for scrap metal, or maybe someone is building a less-communist version of Memento Park somewhere near Hobbiton. We may never know for sure, so instead, here’s a list of 10 of the nation’s most unusual statue thefts.

Flight (2025)

A 2.2m-long sculpture of a bird in flight disappeared from Mt Pleasant in Canterbury earlier this year. The bronze statue called “Flight” – which weighed over two tonnes and was valued at $95,000 – was made in 2018 by late Christchurch artist Llew Summers, and was purchased by the Mt Pleasant community and installed in 2023. The sculpture disappeared from outside the community centre in June, with a set of tyre marks the only evidence left at the scene. Summers’ family offered a $4,000 reward, and a man was arrested in September for theft of the artwork, which had been destroyed and sold for scrap metal. 

Pigeons (2023, 2024)

In worrying news to winged creatures everywhere, three pigeon statues went missing from Wellington during 2023 and 2024. Created by artist Jonathan Campbell, 10 bronze pigeons were installed around the CBD in 2022 by WellingtonNZ, the economic development agency, to celebrate the capital city’s business history. “Each pigeon had a thick stainless steel rod stuck inside and was embedded in concrete to ensure none were stolen from their place of perch,” Stuff reported. It was to no avail, although when pinched pigeon Pepperoni disappeared from a garden near the Cuba Mall bucket fountain in 2024, the (gluten-free?) thief left the piece of bronze pizza behind. 

The Bather (1919)

Turns out New Zealanders have loved a hot piece of bronze for yonks. Way back in July 1919, The Dominion reported that a small statuette had been stolen from the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. “The bronze is that of a nude youth, seated,” they wrote, adding that the statuette was 10 inches (25cm) in height and worth £25 (around $3,200 in 2025 dollars). 

Geyser (2025)

There was an explosive turn of events in Rotorua earlier this year when an award-winning wooden sculpture by artist Susan Dinkelacker was stolen from the city’s Sulphur Lake Sculpture Trail. The artwork was unexpectedly found months later, dumped and vandalised in a Rotorua backyard. “It’s been given some lipstick and its hair has been coloured in,” Rotorua Daily Post reporter Annabel Reid told Herald Now in September. “It’s kind of a spooky thing to find in your garden.”

Harawene (2024)

In March 2024, a life-size bronze replica of beloved dog Harawene was taken from its plinth beside a busy road. The statue was erected after the local community fundraised $10,000 in honour of the stray terrier-cross, who became famous for sitting beside the Rotorua highway and watching the traffic. Tributes flowed when the real life Harawene disappeared in 2008 (presumed to have been killed while crossing the road), and the original statue was erected the following year. But great news, New Zealand: in October 2024, a second statue of Harawene was unveiled in the same spot, after a canine-loving Auckland farmer agreed to pay for the replacement. 

Steel sculpture snatched (2025)

A 6m-high, 2m-wide galvanised steel statue wouldn’t be easy to move, so West Auckland artist Chris Moore was puzzled earlier this year when his enormous sculpture was nicked from his workshop. A neighbour tried to follow the thieves as they dragged the sculpture away on a trailer, but Moore reckoned any criminal who thought they’d nicked a valuable piece of art would be out of luck. “In reality, it is painted steel, and once cut up is not likely to be worth more than $50,” he told Stuff. 

Young Ernest Rutherford (2022)

It’s lucky that Lord Ernest Rutherford is known as the father of nuclear physics rather than the daddy of unbreakable statues, because in 2022, a bloke on a bike stole a bronze memorial statue of Rutherford as a young boy. The theft took place in the middle of the night in Rutherford’s birthplace of Brightwater, near Nelson, with the thief rocking poor Ernest until he snapped at the shins, leaving his two wee feet stuck to the plinth. Most of Ernest was dragged away by bicycle, but police recovered him two days later hiding in someone’s attic, after following the thief into the Wai-iti River.  

Pania of the Reef (2005)

Built in 1954, the 1.5m-tall bronze statue of Pania, a sea maiden from a Ngāti Kahungunu pūrākau, sits on Marine Parade in Napier, and is one of the city’s biggest tourist attractions. But in October 2005, Pania hit the headlines when the 60kg statue was mysteriously uplifted during the night. After an extensive search, Pania of the Reef was found the following week in a shed covered in blankets, and was later returned  – bolted and cemented – to her plinth on Marine Parade. 

Bing Dawe’s Tuna (2014)

Some seriously fishy business went down in the Auckland Botanic Gardens in 2014, after a $30,000 statue of a longfin eel (tuna) was sawn off its metal fixings and stolen. The 90kg fish was made by Christchurch artist Bing Dawe and was recovered by police in the days following the theft, after they were contacted by a scrap metal merchant in Takanini. Tuna was described as being in a “rather sad state”, with both its tail and fins cut off. 

Thinker (2019)

Even gnomes aren’t safe in this cruel world, after a 2m tall bronze gnome statue was pinched from outside Auckland’s Gow Langsford Gallery on Christmas Eve, 2019. Known as “Thinker”, the $55,000 statue unexpectedly turned up three weeks later at the Glen Eden Salvation Army, with a note attached to his jaunty little hat. “I got out of the car and I thought someone was playing some sort of joke with a gnome standing at the front door,” Salvation Army worker Neil Arnold told the NZ Herald. Two men were later charged with gnome theft.