Have you seen the mosaic whale eye in the photo? It was stolen last week from the Magnuson Park Children’s Garden.
And it was no idle theft. It apparently was a planned, organized crime given that the thieves had to dig deep and cut out the 18 inch by 30 inch art piece, which is made of river rock, tile and concrete. Whoever took it, dug deep enough to get a saws-all underneath it to cut the heavy rebar framework that attached it to the concrete piling buried in the ground. Moving it was no easy task either — it weighs more than 75 pounds.
One of the organizers of the garden said a second eye also been tampered with and she’s concerned about further thefts. She has informed police of the crime and her concerns. She says police told her that the Seattle area has had a rash of garden-related thefts, particularly in the Ballard area where people have come home to find container gardens and art objects missing.
If you have any information, you are encouraged to contact police.