London School of Economics' beloved Canadian penguin replaced with impostor
Posted: November 13, 2009, 8:15 AM by Mary Vallis
Canada
One of the mascots of the prestigious London School of Economics is a stately Emperor penguin that stands guard at Clare Market — or at least it did, until three men wrested the bird from its moorings back in March and ran off with it. The penguin has not been seen since. Alas, all that remained of the beloved 60-pound bird were its broken feet.
Students started a Facebook memorial page demanding the return of the penguin — crafted by Canadian artist Yolanda vanderGaast and bequeathed to the school by a Canadian alumnus, Louis Odette — and left tins of sardines at its empty plinth.
But last week, the LSE unveiled a replacement: an identical penguin, but one that is heavier, stronger and more difficult to steal.
“It’s just been fixed into place. The penguin is back,” Warwick Smith, a spokesman for the LSE, confirmed.
Curiously, this is not the first time one of Ms. vanderGaast's penguins has been stolen. Back in 2001, the same model was stolen from a riverfront park in Windsor, Ont. Despite a widespread ground and water search, that penguin was never recovered, either.
“I was shocked to find out it was stolen again in London,” Ms. vanderGaast said from her studio this week. “People can’t figure out what it is about it that seems to attract that kind of attention."
“People just like penguins, I guess.”
—Mary Vallis, National Post
Photos: Nigel Stead/LSE
Source:
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2009/11/13/london-school-of-economics-beloved-canadian-penguin-replaced-with-impostor.aspx
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