{"id":109190,"date":"2025-05-17T14:09:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T14:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/109190\/"},"modified":"2025-05-17T14:09:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T14:09:13","slug":"beloved-edinburgh-pigeon-statue-stolen-as-police-launch-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/109190\/","title":{"rendered":"Beloved Edinburgh pigeon statue stolen as police launch probe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The bronze statues, which are a well-known landmark on Elm Row, have been subjected to vandalism in the past &#8211; with one going missing in December 2023.<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_Screenshot-2025-05-17-at-140404.png\" alt=\"A bronze pigeon sculpture has vanished again from Elm Walk\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>A bronze pigeon sculpture has vanished again from Elm Walk<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Police are probing the theft of a beloved pigeon statue in <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyrecord.co.uk\/all-about\/edinburgh\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Edinburgh<\/a> after it disappeared for a second time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The bronze statues, which are a well-known landmark on Elm Row, have been subjected to vandalism in the past &#8211; with one going missing in December 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Now two statues have once again been removed from their base.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">One of the birds is in <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyrecord.co.uk\/all-about\/edinburgh-city-council\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Edinburgh council&#8217;s<\/a> possession but the other pigeon remains missing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Councillor Jack Caldwell<a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyrecord.co.uk\/all-about\/police-scotland\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\"> reported the incident to Police<\/a> and has been encouraging anyone with information to get in touch with the authorities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">He told<a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.edinburghlive.co.uk\/news\/edinburgh-news\/beloved-edinburgh-pigeon-statue-disappears-31665196\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\"> Edinburgh Live<\/a>: &#8220;The second one is still very much up in the air. The city itself, it doesn&#8217;t make new public art in large quantities anymore so when the existing things go missing, it\u2019s not just the things themselves but the sentimental value. People take note.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_Screenshot-2025-05-17-at-140635.png\" alt=\"The sculptures are a hit with locals\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>The sculptures are a hit with locals<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The birds, created by sculptor Shona Kinloch, were introduced to the area in 1996 before being removed ten years later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">They were reinstalled in July 2023 upon completion of the extension to the city&#8217;s tram line down Leith Walk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The pigeons were placed alongside the London Road Pillar Clock, which was returned to Leith Walk in August 2022, following its full restoration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">But a few months later one of the pigeons, which was thought to have been stolen, was handed in to a local caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Craig Jones Rowley spotted the bird on its side on Elm Row after he said it was &#8220;hacked&#8221; from its plinth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">He gave it to a friend who works in the nearby caf\u00e9 for safekeeping before the artwork was reported missing to the council.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Each of the sculptures weigh up to 20lb (9kg).<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Police Scotland confirmed that investigations into the latest reported theft are ongoing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">A spokesperson said: &#8221; \u201cAround 4.10pm on Thursday, 15 May, 2025, we received a report of a theft of a statue on Elm Row, Edinburgh.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cEnquiries are ongoing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1747398730_254_0_WACOMMUNITYQR3.jpg\" alt=\"\"  \/>Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community!<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">You&#8217;ll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">All you have to do is <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/chat.whatsapp.com\/BZamc48XMaoEqKkIN7GWxV\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">click here if you&#8217;re on mobile<\/strong><\/a>, select &#8216;Join Community&#8217; and you&#8217;re in!<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">If you&#8217;re on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click &#8216;Join Community&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out any time you like.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose &#8216;exit group&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">If you\u2019re curious, you can read our <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyrecord.co.uk\/privacy-notice\/\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The bronze statues, which are a well-known landmark on Elm Row, have been subjected to vandalism in the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,42352,4884,530,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-109190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-edinburgh-city-council","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-police-scotland","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114523574825492369","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}