Unique Little Mermaid statue stolen from Salt Lake park

SALT LAKE CITY — An official replica of a famous Danish statue of Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid, one of only four ever made, has been stolen from Salt Lake City's International Peace Gardens.

"It's really discouraging," said Salt Lake City Parks Director Val Pope. "You try to make a nice area for people to contemplate things and have art and flowers … it's discouraging."

The 3-foot-tall bronze statue was reported stolen on Feb. 26 from the Peace Gardens at Jordan Park, 1000 S. 900 West. Scrap metal recyclers have been alerted to be on the lookout for anyone who might try to sell it.

The original Little Mermaid statue is in a harbor in Copenhagen. A replica was donated to Salt Lake City in 1955.

"To have a copy made you have to get permission from the Denmark government," Pope said.

The statue was also stolen about 15 to 20 years ago.

"It was removed from its mounting. We found it the next day near the Jordan River," he said.

The statue was put back in the Peace Gardens and reattached to a boulder, this time more securely, or so park officials thought.

"It was removed this time by individuals using very large rocks (and hitting it) until it became loose from its mountings," Pope said.

The statue is worth an estimated $28,000. It weighs between 75 to 100 pounds.

Anyone with information on the missing statue is asked to call Salt Lake police at 801-799-3000.

e-mail: preavy@desnews.com