Something's Fishy Here!

I've just been informed of some tragic news: it seems that my city's world famous Fish Sculpture, which was installed in this highly visible and public venue, has been stolen!

You can read my original fish sculpture post here.

The art theft actually occurred way back in July, but due to my busy schedule and my duties as president and C.E.O. at Bob Canada's BlogWorld, I was just informed of it today.

The sculpture, entitled Fish Story, was a 12 foot long, 200 pound metallic fish crafted entirely from copper. It hung some 30 feet in the air from a repurposed utility pole.

How the brazen art thieves– yes, I said thieves plural, as I see no way a single miscreant could have have committed the foul deed by himself– managed to remove the 200 pound ichthyic simulation is not known. Perhaps the fact that the utility pole which held the fish aloft was found sawn in half might be a clue.

Although the section of the trail in question appears quite secluded, it's actually less than a hundred feet away from a residential area. There is of course a tall earthen levee running between the houses and the trail, masking it from view, but still... one would think the sawing of a utility pole and a 200 pound copper fish hitting the ground would make a fair amount of noise, alerting even the most dullardly of nearby residents. Makes me wonder if perhaps the homeowners turned a blind eye, or rather ear, to the theft. It almost seems like this progressive cosmopolitan city doesn't like fine art.

Make no mistake, this theft was no idle lark; it was a methodically planned crime, no doubt committed by a gang of world class art thieves. Or perhaps by a truckload of rednecks looking for scrap copper to sell. It's hard to tell without all the facts.

This daring robbery is a tragic blow to the community and has sent shockwaves throughout the world of trail-side art installations. If an enormous fish sculpture can be stolen out from under our noses, it's only a matter of time before this dragonfly wing-looking thing on the other end of the trail disappears forever.

Even if these audacious thieves are caught and brought to justice, it's unlikely that Fish Story will ever be recovered. It was no doubt sold for scrap and melted down months ago (do you melt copper? I'm not a copper thief so I'm not sure) providing the thieves a few extra dollars with which to buy some precious mind-numbing booze.

Fish Story, we hardly knew ye!