One-Of-A-Kind Metal Dog Sculpture Stolen From Outside Sacramento Restaurant
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – A one-of-a-kind pup was stolen from outside a midtown Sacramento restaurant. This is no ordinary pooch – it's a hand-crafted steel statue that can't be replicated.
Now there's a hefty reward to track down this longtime and beloved piece of public art.
"Otis use to live here, this was his garden," said artist Angela Ridgeway, who created the three-and-a-half foot metal dog sculpture.
Otis was stolen last month, sawed off and swiped by the suspect.
For four years, Otis was on display outside the sibling restaurant on capitol avenue, looking up at Stan - an eight-foot-tall tin-man whose arms reached out to greet his companion pup.
The pair was a popular piece of public art.
"You could touch him, get your picture taken with him," Ridgeway said. "Otis just captured people's hearts and so when I found out he was gone, I was broken-hearted."
Stan's heart is made out of the same blue-green recycled steel that Otis came from – in a Wizard of Oz meets man's best friend theme.
"Otis is what helped him find his heart because he's a tin man looking for his heart," Ridgeway said.
She spent eight months crafting the one of kind sculpture and says this can't ever be replaced.
"I have a chronic shoulder injury that I can't create metal art anymore, I had to give that up," she said.
The building's owner created a flyer offering a $500 reward for Otis' return – and angela has a message for the person behind this dog-gone crime.
"Please bring this back so the neighborhood can enjoy his company again," she said.
Otis weighs about 25 pounds. Anyone with info on the stolen dog sculpture is asked to email: julie@urbanelements.us