Large eagle statue stolen from Indigenous cultural centre

A large wooden eagle has been plucked from its perch outside a North Point Douglas cultural centre, depleting a collection of statues representing Anishinaabe clans.

Early Friday morning, thieves removed a 1.4-metre-tall, 57-kilogram eagle statue that was bolted to a pole outside the Manitoba Indigenous Cultural Education Centre at the corner of Sutherland Avenue and Euclid Avenue.

According to security footage, the thieves covered a security camera with a coffee cup before making off with the oversized eagle, which stood alongside statues of a wolf, beaver, bear, marten, deer and fish.

Security footage shows thieves trying to remove eagle:

Large eagle statue stolen from Indigenous cultural centre

6 years ago

Duration 0:54

Thieves removed an eagle statue that was bolted to a pole outside the centre on Sutherland and Euclid Avenue.

"When we installed them, we had to use ascissor lift. That's how we got it up there," said Anna Pronto, office manager at the cultural education centre. "We can't see how they got it off, but obviously there were at least two of them that took it away."

The collection of statues, carved by Manigotagan artist Rick Hall, was installed this spring to replace a previous installation, Pronto said.

"It really defines our building," she said. "Peoplerecognize us by the outside of the building, even if theydon'tknow who we are and what we do there."

The remaining statues have been affixed to their poles more securely, Pronto says.

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Her organization handed police security footage with the hopes of identifying two people captured on camera looking at the eagle statue before it was removed.

She's urging Winnipeggers to be on the lookout for the distinct carving, which will be easy to identify should someone attempt to sell it online or in a store.

"We're hoping people do the right thing and return it to us," she said in an appeal to the burglars, who may not realize the cultural significance of their heist, not to mention its importance to the Sutherland Avenue streetscape.

"Everyone is shocked and disappointed," she said, adding it's been difficult to explain the theft of public art to her six-year-old son. "How do you explain that?"