A bronze sculpture of an eel curling on its base was stolen overnight from Auckland Botanic Gardens in Manurewa.
Garden staff found this morning the sculpture, which is called "Tuna" or eel in Maori, had been sawn off from its base at its site about 50 metres from the Southern Motorway boundary fence.
Gardens manager Jack Hobbs said thieves appeared to have targeted the work overnight.
"The bolts were sawn clean-through, leaving the mounting plate and the spiral carved base," he said.
A work by Canterbury artist Bing Dawe, the spiralling long-fin tuna was a symbol of the species "downward spiral to extinction" because of draining of swamps for agriculture.
