Three dinosaurs beheaded 'with angle grinder' at Australian museum
Confused children discover the damage to velociraptor models while exploring an outside display area at a museum in Canberra.
Tuesday 08 August 2017
Police said the heads were removed using an angle grinder or a hacksaw. Pic: @ACTPolicing
Three model velociraptors have been beheaded by mystery vandals at an Australian dinosaur museum.
The culprits scaled a 4ft fence and used an angle grinder or hacksaw to remove the dinosaurs' heads, according to police.
The models were in an outside display area at a museum in Canberra and CCTV shows they were damaged late on Saturday evening.
The CCTV also shows a pickup truck driving along the side of the museum building around the same time.
Police believe the people responsible arrived in the vehicle.
"The offenders had climbed a 4ft fence to gain entry," said Australian Capital Territory police.
"The damage sustained to the (three velociraptor) dinosaurs indicate that an angle grinder or hacksaw was used to remove the heads from the body."
Damage to the exhibit was discovered by children visiting the museum the next morning.
The heads were removed from three model raptors. Pic: @ACTPolicing
"We went out to check it out and three of our dinosaurs here have been decapitated," museum staffer Mitchell Seymour told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"We had heaps of kids coming up and going 'oh mum and dad, what's wrong with the dinosaurs?'
"It's selfish, and it's thoughtless is what it is."
In 2013 a giant fibreglass dinosaur was stolen from the museum.
It was later found in the home of a man who said it was taken as a birthday prank, according to local media.
Police are now looking for any witnesses to the vandalism.