Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Community rallies to fix stone caterpillar
A COMMUNITY has been praised by police for pulling together to salvage a public artwork c r eated by c h i ld r e n after it was destroyed by vandals.
The Monifieth l ockdown caterpillar, made up of stones decorated by local children, was started last month and since then has grown to almost 2,000 pebbles in a show of community spirit amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, on Saturday, it was discovered hundreds of stones had been deliberately removed, with hundreds discarded leaving the trail broken.
The news sparked outrage and in the hours afterwards a number of people in the community set about trying to find the missing stones.
Now the majority of them have been found and are being kept safe in the parish church on the High Street.
Meanwhile, a police investigation is now under way to establish who was responsible for the damage, with Angus Council also looking at measures which could protect the trail from further vandalism.
A post on the Tayside Police Facebook page praised locals for their efforts in ensuring the trail can be repaired.
It stated: “The Monifieth Community Police Team was extremely disappointed to hear the news that some thoughtless individuals had destroyed the Monifieth Caterpillar.
“There were more than 1,800 stones on the caterpillar, and a lot of children had put a lot of hard work into designing their stones.”
The incident comes just a week after a caterpillar trail in Arbroath was vandalised by youths, who were spotted tossing some of the stones away, prompting a similar community effort to repair the artwork.
The police statement added: “A similar incident happened in Arbroath as well.
“This is unacceptable antisocial behaviour and if anyone knows who was responsible, please get i n touch with Constable Dawn McGaughay from Carnoustie Police Office or any police officer.
“We are happy to report the amazing community in Monifieth pulled together again, found most of the stones, and they have been temporarily moved to the Monifieth Parish Church i n the High Street, where they will be displayed in the windows for everyone to enjoy looking at.”