Vandals throw life-size penguin statue aimed at raising money for charity into Worcestershire river
The Kingfisher Azure statue was chucked into water late last night.
Last updated 20th Aug 2024
A life-size statue of a penguin needed the fire service to be recovered after vandals chucked it in a river in Worcestershire.
Someone had chucked the Kingfisher Azure into water late last night.
Waddle of Worcester is brightening up Worcester’s streets with colourful penguins to raise funds for St Richard's Hospice.
Sarah Matthews, business development manager for the hospice and responsible for delivering the art trail, said: "It's really disappointing and really quite sad that this is done on purpose and to this extent."
"When we do these projects, there's an element of expectation that- when they first go out on the trail- people don't really understand what it's in aid of and there might be some silly damage.
"But this is our fifth week of the trail, I think it's very obvious that its in aid of St Richard's Hospice.
Two other penguins near the Kingfisher were also damaged, as vandals attempted to lift them off their plinths.
"I've been there since just after 6am this morning, it's not the best use of everyone's time when we've got other things to be doing!
"Sadly, for everyone concerned, we had to get the fire and rescue service involved- they actually entered the water and retrieved the sculpture- so we have managed to get it back.
All three of them have been taken to our repairers in Pershore, and once they're repaired, we work with our maintenance team who get all the artwork back up to scratch."
We've been told he's back on land, safe and dry!