The face of one of Crystal Palace’s famous concrete dinosaurs has been smashed by vandals.

The nose and mouth of the Megalosaurus was smashed off, probably by use of a heavy implement sometime last week. The dinosaur is in the middle of the lake, so the vandal would have had to be fairly determined to get over there.

In a statement, the Friends of the CP Dinosaurs said that they were notified about the damage by a member of the public last Monday, and is now working with the authorities to investigate the damage.

The dinosaurs and the island are on the national Heritage at Risk register.

Apart from the crime of vandalism, the the dinosaurs are Grade I listed and any intentional damage falls under the category of heritage crime, punishable by fines or incarceration.

The antlers of the Irish Elk were also found to be damaged, but that could have been due to high winds a couple of weeks ago.

The Friends are currently working on ways to improve the dinosaurs, and have recently secured funding to add a secured bridge to the island so that more people can enjoy them.

You can support the Friends here.

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2 comments
  1. David Morgan says:
    27 May 2020 at 10:47 am

    Is it certain it’s vandalism caused the damage or could it have dropped off just because the materials are aging?
    As for the elk I photographed it 6 weeks ago with damaged antlers so those ‘high winds’ were not to blame. Again aging materials?

    • CatePhillips says:
      29 May 2020 at 11:22 am

      Hi David it could be either. However the damage happened, the dinos will always be in need of support and maintenance.

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