KEY POINTS:
Thieves have stolen a large bronze sculpture of a weta from its pillar outside an Auckland library, the latest of several bronze artworks to be targeted by thieves around the country.
A library customer discovered the artwork, by artist Jonathan Campbell, was missing from the grounds of Epsom Community Library on Wednesday at 3.30pm.
The date and time of the actual theft were unknown.
Epsom Community librarian Kala Bhana said library staff and customers were upset and angry about the theft of the "much loved artwork".
"The weta was so distinctive and had become a true emblem for the library. The front courtyard will feel empty without it."
The sculpture was located on a pillar outside the library and was 1500mm in length from front to back foot.
In October 2005 Napier's iconic Pania of the Reef statue was stolen from Marine Parade. Charles Nukunuku was jailed for a year for stealing the 70kg statue.
The same month a $25,000 Paul Dibble sculpture was stolen from outside a Waikanae restaurant, and later returned after a $10,000 ransom was paid -- something which angered police.
In December 2005 a bronze statue by British sculptor Henry Moore was stolen in Britain, prompting another of his works to be put under 24-hour guard in the Wellington Botanical Gardens.
Library staff are appealing to members of the public to come forward with any information about the missing weta.
The theft comes in the wake of a raid at Auckland University library over the Christmas holidays.
Thieves stole a $100,000 Charles Goldie painting, seven Colin McCahon poems worth $7000 and an unbound copy of the Oxford Lectern Bible valued at $100,000 from the library's special collections room.
- NZPA
