Couple offer reward for stolen dolphins

A Wellington couple are offering a $10,000 reward for the safe return of two bronze dolphins stolen from their beachfront home over the weekend.

Jenny and Stuart Young, from Breaker Bay, discovered their statue of three bronze dolphins vandalised, with the top two dolphins missing, early Saturday, The Dominion Post reported.

Mrs Young said the couple bought the sculpture for $16,000 in New York 16 years ago and it had sat unguarded at the front of their property ever since.

"They do mean a lot to us and they mean a lot to the neighbourhood, actually. They've been there for so long and they're not fenced in. Everybody pats them as they go past and the sightseeing buses stop and have a look at them and look out to sea and see if they can see any dolphins out there as well," she said.

The couple were home Friday night but did not see or hear anything suspicious.

They had contacted police and were approaching scrap metal dealers, believing the dolphins had been stolen to be sold as scrap.

"Unless someone just wanted the top two in their garden, but it seems odd. Hopefully the metal merchants will think it's worth more than melting them down, I don't know," Mrs Young said.

"It's part of the environment round on the south coast ... they were there for everyone to enjoy, and it's just a bummer that somebody's spoilt it."

- NZPA