YAKUTSK — Vandals damaged a monument to the crucian carp less than 24 hours after it was installed on a bridge to mark the Siberian city's 380th birthday.
Locals had hoped that the monument, erected Sunday on a bridge spanning Lake Taloye on the initiative of the Yakutsk Vecherny newspaper, would immortalize the contribution that the golden-green fish had made to the city by providing its residents with a steady food supply during hard times.
But instead, vandals ripped the bronze monument off its pedestal overnight Sunday and tossed it into a nearby children's playground, a gift to the city from Russian supermodel and philanthropist Natalya Vodyanova, according to local news portal Sakha Life.
A police spokesman told Interfax that law enforcement officials learned of the act of vandalism from a passer-by and that they were studying surveillance cameras in the area to determine the identity of those responsible.
The carp statue, reportedly the only such monument in the world, is not the only unusual sculpture to have suffered harsh treatment in Russia in recent months. In early July, Kemerovo police detained a teenager suspected of damaging a local monument to the potato while out drinking with friends.
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