British Columbia

Missing dragon sculpture found swaddled in blankets in Nanaimo

The dragon turned up in a library parking lot wrapped in brightly-coloured blankets on Friday.

The sculpture did not appear to be damaged

Artist Heather Wall said her missing dragon sculpture turned up like this at the Nanaimo Public Library on Friday. It had been missing for days. (Heather Wall/Facebook)

A large aluminum dragon sculpture that went missing from its perch in a Nanaimo, B.C., park has been found.

Artist Heather Wall said the dragon turned up in a library parking lot wrapped in brightly-coloured blankets on Friday afternoon.

Rock Dragon 2.0 was installed atop a rock and steel sphere mounted on a two-metre pole in the waterfront park in early June and Wall said it would have required a co-ordinated effort to get it down.

The sculpture, pictured in its finished form, weighs about 55 pounds. ( THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heather Wall)

She estimated the value at between $12,000 and $15,000 and said it had been leased by the City of Nanaimo for one year.

Nanaimo RCMP spokesman Const. Gary O'Brien said the sculpture did not appear to be damaged.

It's one of several pieces of art that have been reported stolen on Central Vancouver Island in recent weeks, including a 300-pound Chinese terracotta statue that went missing from a Lantzville yard on Tuesday.

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