It had been a relatively quiet Billy Barker Days weekend until the early morning of Sunday July 19. When someone committed the sole ‘major’ crime in the town, making Bruce the Moose, outside of the Prestige Riverside Lodge hotel, a victim of vandalism.
One of the Prestige’s beloved moose’s antlers had been broken off and stolen over the festival weekend.
My Cariboo Now had contacted the Prestige Riverside Lodge on Monday, July 21, inquiring about the alleged act of vandalism. An employee of the hotel said that there was no footage of the crime, nor had the Lodge filed a police report.
One of Bruce’s carvers, Ryan Cook, a professional chainsaw carver, first made the alleged act of vandalism publicly noticed when he posted on social media, expressing frustration on July 21. In the video, Cook explains that the antler had been bolted and clued onto the carving to hold it in place.
“It was pretty disheartening when I saw it at first,” Cook said to My Cariboo Now.
“There is an element of you put so much work into something like this; but I know how much the town of Quesnel loved it. I get messages every day from people who drive by and tell me it makes them smile. It’s made a nice impact on the community, then to have someone want to rip it off or play around it in a way it can be damaged — it’s just sad, and it’s just a bummer that it happened during Billy Barker Days.”
Despite the sadness of Bruce losing an antler, Cook said the outreach and calls for help from the community in Quesnel, shops, and local hunters was “incredible” and “heartwarming.”
The Lodge also expressed concerns over the costs to make Bruce whole, as Cook had used real moose antlers when Bruce was originally carved. However, according to Cook, that issue has almost been solved by the community who have rallied to support their beloved urban Moose.
Cook received calls for donations to buy new antlers, as well as hunters sending photos of Moose racks that they had as trophies and were happy to donate telling Cook “moose lose antlers and regrow them bigger all the time in nature”. The outreach has plucked Cook’s heartstrings in the best way possible.
“I was shocked at how many people, first reached out to say they were upset with me, but also wanted to donate, even bigger racks than Bruce had on,” says Cook. “It was overwhelming, and just goes to show there is still so much good out there that outways the bad.”
An employee of the Prestige Riverside Lodge did confirm that Bruce’s missing antler had been found, thanks to some local Quesnellians.
For Cook, while at first “bummed” that such a positive and loved piece of art for the community was vandalised, the support and help has him feeling proud that Bruce has shown the impact of art has on communities.
“The outpouring of people who are wanting to support Bruce the Moose, and the town, it invokes a lot of emotions, and that’s what art is. It’s really come full circle, it’s back to good now. We just got to put antlers back on, and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Cook and the Prestige Riverside Lodge will be looking into the best way to get Bruce to regrow a health pair of antlers.
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