For goodness sakes people. Eight Muslims from the hard lines Islamic group Ulama Anjumane Al Baiyeniat (who?) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, have been arrested for damaging a group of six white stork sculptures.The men all armed with shovels and hammers began whacking the 41ft (12.5m) tall structures after an attempt to pull them down with ropes failed. Hmm, they meant business. Ah, it seems this group has a jihad against statues in general because they are seen as a form of idol worship (hmm, better not tell Paula Abdul, she’ll cry!). The eight have been charged with creating chaos and attacking security officials.The sculptor Mrinal Haque has stated the statues which were erected in 1989 had nothing to do with Islam (well they do now!).

A giant knitted pink rabbit, which for the sake of this blog I shall call public art, can be spotted from space via Google Earth. Hmm, I wonder what our extra terrestrial buddies will think of us now? The knitted bunny was created by the Viennese art collective Gelatin in Italy’s Piedmont region. The pink rabbit was created for people to climb, sleep or walk on. Far too many people with far too much time on their hands, me thinks!

Two men (not kids!) have been arrested over the deliberate damage of two fiberglass goat statues in Hendersonville. The goats were part of the downtown art collection called “Kidding Around Downtown,” . The two goats injured were Groovy goat (who had his head knocked right off) and Mountain Goat (who lost an ear). They are yet to locate the ear. This isn’t Mountain Goat’s first time in the news, he was nicked along with “Connie-Mara” in July by two kids  who were later charged. Prior to the goats, the town had a five year run with decorative fiberglass bears. The decorative goats  eventually get auctioned off for charity, which makes this so sad because who wants a goat with no head or ear?

Name and shame them right here. The culprits for the latest attack on the fiberglass goats are Daniel Joseph Markel, 27, of Flat Rock, and Craig Owen Hensley, 29, of Hendersonville.They have both been charged with damage to personal property. One for the Billy goats gruff!

If it weren’t for the matching carpet no one would have known that the famous photo of Wild Bill Hickok wearing buckskins was taken in Medota, Illinois. Yep, local historian Steve Dancey was able to verify that the famous photo of Wild bill was actually taken in Mendota after he spotted the distinctive carpet in other photographs taken by local photographer Wilbur Blakeslee (smart cookie). So now, 140 years later, the town is honoring James Butler with a life size bronze. Oh and you guessed it, the statue will be based on that famous photo. Good job.

Ever wondered what statue thieves look like? Well here are a few for starters. Yes, from left to right are all from Shirley in Suffolk, they have been charged with two counts of grand larceny and one count of criminal mischief. Yes, these little charmers are responsible for the stealing of brass statues with the intent to sell them for scrap metal. Their faces can be found on “wall of shame” Newsday website. Hip hip hooray, there should be more name and shame sites.

Need I say More…The Big Banana, the Yellow Submarine and the Yellow Peril are three really good reasons for a sculptor never to choose that hue (ever). The Big Banana was shunted around the State of Western Australia before eventually becoming the lame icon for Carnarvon (the banana capital of WA), the Yellow Submarine became a piece of public art because nobody else knew what to call it and the Yellow Peril (god bless) created one of the greatest public art outcries in modern history. So horrified were the Melbournites, that the Yellow Peril was dismantled in the middle of the night and removed to a park, where it became an instant hit with the homeless.

Biggles Leap of Faith

I was on one of my jaunts recently and came across a pooch statue at The Rocks in Sydney. The inconspicuous statue is of a miniature Schnauzer, named Biggles. The plaque had a list of people and government bodies responsible for its commission. So, I am thinking this pooch must have done something extraordinary to have himself immortalized. So after some investigating I discovered Biggles was a local daredevil dog, often seen during the 1980’s and 1990’s, zooming through the streets of Sydney on the back of his owners motorcycle. Known for his antics like leaping from tall buildings (in a single bound) in pursuit of wayward cats, poor old Biggles was last seen leaping to his death off a cliff in Sydney Harbour. It has long been rumored the crazy mutt was chasing a rat and not a cat. There is something tragically funny in this dog tale and it reminds me of the story of Barry the St Bernard.

Barry The St Bernard

Many moons ago I did a story on old Barry. I traveled to the Cimetière des Chiens (Pet Cemetery) in Paris (I kid you not) specifically to track down the Barry monument. Barry was a rescue dog (the ones with the brandy keg around their necks) who had saved between 40-100 lives (sounds a bit of an exaggeration, but I digress). Unfortunately for Barry, the last one he rescued, killed him. Yes, I know it is an awful story but it gets even worse. In 1814 Barry was part of a rescue team sent to recapture an escapee who had fled into the snow in the mountains of Switzerland. Barry eventually found the prisoner unconscious, so like a good doggy he lay on top of him to keep him warm. When the prisoner came too, he found he had a 140kg fur coat lying on top of him and I guess he freaked out and stabbed Barry to death. Barry’s monument can be found in the Paris Pet Cemetery and his body is preserved in the Natural History Museum in Berne, Switzerland. I swear you can’t make this stuff up.