# Thieves steal statues, leave another in its place **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 16, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thieves-steal-statues-leave-another-in-its-place/571579 "2011-02-16T14:04:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thieves-steal-statues-leave-another-in-its-place/571579/1 "2011-02-16T14:04:18Z")
Gloucester MA thieves are evidently packrats: [http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1316939&srvc=rss](http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1316939&srvc=rss) > [@](#): > > Gloucester police are investigating the disappearance of a pair of cast-iron egret sculptures from the yard of a city home, and their replacement by a statue of a man in traditional Chinese garb. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thieves-steal-statues-leave-another-in-its-place/571579/2 "2011-02-16T14:18:20Z")
Why on earth would anyone want statues of egrets? I’d rather have Confuscious. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thieves-steal-statues-leave-another-in-its-place/571579/3 "2011-02-16T14:25:12Z")
Maybe it is a variant on the traveling lawn gnome, the egrets will pop up somewhere else when that statue gets stolen. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thieves-steal-statues-leave-another-in-its-place/571579/4 "2011-02-16T14:25:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Why on earth would anyone want statues of egrets? I’ve had a few…but then again, too few to mention. Sorry. Couldn’t help myself. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thieves-steal-statues-leave-another-in-its-place/571579/5 "2011-02-16T14:27:19Z")
Might as well close the thread. **Cal** just won the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thieves-steal-statues-leave-another-in-its-place/571579/6 "2011-02-16T14:47:48Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Gloucester police are investigating the disappearance of a pair of cast-iron egret sculptures from the yard of a city home, and their replacement by a statue of a man in traditional Chinese garb. Did they check to make sure it wasn’t egret Voltron? ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thieves-steal-statues-leave-another-in-its-place/571579/7 "2011-02-16T14:52:52Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ve had a few…but then again, too few to mention. I’m not heron you… ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thieves-steal-statues-leave-another-in-its-place/571579/8 "2011-02-16T15:06:37Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > Why on earth would anyone want statues of egrets? What, they’re statues of limitations? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thieves-steal-statues-leave-another-in-its-place/571579/9 "2011-02-17T08:04:27Z")
They put the other statute there so the booby trap that would be triggered by the weight being gone would not go off.