Art installation offers mammoth welcome into Dawson City

If you've noticed a giant mammal perched on the grass across fromthe Commissioner's Residence inDawson City, Yukon, lately, don't be alarmed.

The five-tonne, three-metre-tallice age creature may be true to size, but it comes in peace. It'sa new art installation meant to greetvisitors with a mammoth welcome to Dawson City.

It's the creation of local artistHalinde Repentigny, who says he wanted to draw attention to the paleontological history of the area. Gold miners have been discovering massive tusks,bones and other fossils since the beginning of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898.

The artist says he first became interested in the ice age mammals after a mammoth convention was held in Dawson City in 2003. He built several models of the mammoth in recent months, before starting on the final project, made of rebar, chicken wire, and cement.

"I bent 1,500 feetof rebarin it to give it the shape," said de Repentigny.

He said he worked with a mammoth expert in Austria to get the dimensions exactly right.

"The thing is scientifically correct," said de Repentigny.

He's hopefulthe mammoth will draw more people to the park where it's located, and even become a landmark for tourists to visit and photograph.