3 dinosaur statues stolen from museum found damaged at Texas fraternity, officials say
Three beloved dinosaur statues that were snatched from a Central Texas museum are back home thanks to the help of an eagle-eyed tipster. Unfortunately, two were heavily damaged.
Attention was widespread after the statues – named Minmi, Dilong and Dimetrodon, each 6 to 10 feet long – were stolen from their exhibit areas at The Dinosaur Park in Cedar Creek on Oct. 20, the park announced on its Facebook page. The dinosaurs were later recovered at a UT Austin fraternity, a representative for the museum confirmed to McClatchy News.
UT Austin is about 21 miles from The Dinosaur Park.
The museum released an updated post on their Facebook page.
“A tip panned out and our dino babies were recovered last night,” the post said. “Minmi is intact. Dilong was sadly destroyed and missing pieces. Dimetrodon needs major reconstruction and might not be salvageable.”
Austin American-Statesman reported that a tipster who attended a party at one of the university’s fraternities reached out, which led to the recovery of the statues.
“We’re certainly happy to have them back. We’re definitely bummed out and disappointed that it happened in the first place and that two of them were returned damaged, but we are grateful to have them back,” Austin Nunez, a representative of Dinosaur Park told Austin-American Statesman. “We’re grateful that the community was able and willing to help out, and that a good Samaritan was able to put in a good tip that led to us finding them.”
It has not been announced which fraternity is responsible. The park told McClatchy that “they are currently working with law enforcement and legal representatives as to what consequences the parties involved in the theft will face.”
This story was originally published October 29, 2021 at 5:07 PM with the headline "3 dinosaur statues stolen from museum found damaged at Texas fraternity, officials say."