Camerasaurus? On the hunt for vandals of city’s dinosaur trail
POLICE AND CCTV MAY UNCOVER WHO DID THE DAMAGE
THE organisers of a dinosaur trail in Lincoln city centre are “disappointed and annoyed” at the latest act of vandalism to tarnish pop-up sculptures in the city.
Dino City, a free Easter activity set up by Lincoln Business Improvement Group (BIG), saw a number of dinosaur sculptures placed around the city centre for people to explore and check out.
Alongside the trail, there are also events and activities for people of all ages to enjoy throughout the Easter school holidays.
It runs from March 29 to April 14, , but unfortunately it has been dealt a similar fate that many other similar r trails have encountered in the city in n recent years.
A couple of the caged fences blocking the sculptures have been dented and damaged by what the organisers call “mindless individu- als.”
This was in the Cornhill area, as well as nearby at the Lincoln Central Bus Station.
Lincolnshire Police confirmed it was investigating reports of criminal damage, and believe this took place in the early hours between March 29 9 and 30.
stLincoln BIG Operations Manager Lee Roberts said: “Needless to say we are extremely disappointed and annoyed that yet again, due to the actions of a couple of mindless individuals, what is aimed to be a free, fun activity for families is potentially ruined.
“We are currently working with both CCTV and the police to identify those responsible.
“We will not allow individuals to ruin the experiences of everyone else enjoying what our city has to offer.
“We hope that everyone who has come to take part in the Easter holi
pday activities has not been disappointed due to the vandalism that has happened to the caged dinosaurs.”
It is an unfortunate pattern of behaviour with sculpture trails and the city of Lincoln. Last year, a design on the St Barnabas Hospice HeART trail was vandalised five times in two weeks, meaning it had to be
gremoved from its original placing at the Cornhill.
It is this exact place where one of the vandalism incidents on the Dino City trail has occurred, also. This followed the 2021 Lincoln Imp Trail, where two of the sculptures were damaged and removed from the trail.
A man in his 20s from Scunthorpe and a man in his 40s from Grimsby were charged over the criminal damage of t the Community Imp and Lincoln C City FC Imp respectively.
In both 2021 and 2022, large Christmas light sculptures of baubles and a reindeer were damaged and removed from the city centre as a result.
It isn’t just pop-up sculptures that have fallen victim to vandalism in recent times, though. More permanent features, such as the lion statue at the Arboretum, or the Margaret Thatcher statue in Grantham, have also been targeted.
Despite this latest setback, the show must go on and Lincoln BIG will keep the dinosaurs in place for the duration of the Dino City event.
We are currently working with both CCTV and the police to identify those responsible.
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