The moose is on the loose
Christmas capers don’t come much stranger than this.
On Tuesday at approximately 4:30 p.m. a beloved stuffed moose was stolen from outside the Parksville store Meaningful Things at 192 Island Highway West.
“It has a lot of sentimental value. I cried when they told me,” said store owner Maureen Solway of her reaction to the news.
“It’s really unique and definitely one of a kind. I can’t believe someone stole it. Everybody will know where it’s from.”
Solway said she bought the moose 10 years ago in Vancouver and it has been outside her store ever since. On the day of its theft the moose, roughly seven feet high and attached to a fabric covered wooden base, was garbed in a seasonal Santa suit.
“A lot of children will be really upset,” she said. “I hope he’s returned not just for me but for everybody in the area.”
Oceanside RCMP Cpl. Garry Cox said, “a vehicle was seen in front of the store with two young males loading the moose into it ... we have a licence plate and are following up on that right now.”
He said the plates were not from the immediate area and that witnesses got a good look at the suspects and the departing pickup.
Solway dismissed the idea that the purloined ungulate might be some kind of joke.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “I have a horrid feeling they’ll find him sliced up somewhere. Why would they steal him?”
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