Volunteers at Park and Tilford Gardens were stunned Wednesday morning after three big brass frogs were ripped from a tiled pond in an overnight amphibian assault.
After slicing the fence leading to Magnolia Gardens late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, the brass bandits punched through the garden wall, snapped the water pipes connected to the frogs, and hefted the toads from their stools, according to North Vancouver RCMP.
The frogs each weighed 60 pounds, according to police.
“I think two people could probably carry them into the back of a truck or even a car trunk,” said RCMP spokesman Cpl. Richard De Jong.
Garden volunteer Jocelyn Wade suggested the “beautiful bronze sculptures” were far heavier, indicating the freebooting frogmen employed some kind of mechanical advantage to slip the water features past the fence near Cotton Road and Gladstone Avenue.
“It’s a violation and it’s really unpleasant that such a beautiful spot for the community has been damaged this way,” Wade said. “If anybody sees them in somebody’s garden, let us know.”
De Jong agreed.
“Hopefully they’re not being just turned into scrap metal because that would be a shame,” he said.
Anyone with information on the frogs can call police at 604-985-1311 and reference file: 2018-19435.
Police estimate the value of the frogs at $3,000. The frogs have been part of a tranquil oasis at Magnolia Gardens for years, Wade said.
“The kids love them,” she said. “They’re beautiful works of art.”
