A hay sculpture of a bear in rural Nova Scotia has been burnt to the ground and the owner wants answers.
Blake Jennings of Bayview Poultry Farms says someone came onto his property in Debert N.S., approximately 20 kilometres west of Truro, overnight Monday and torched the “beloved bear.”
"(I’m) very disgusted,” Jennings told CTV Atlantic on Tuesday. “You put a lot of work into it and it means a lot to a lot of people. It saddens me."
The four-and-a-half metre hay bear sat in a field on Jennings’ property. The sculpture came complete with ears, a snout and a smiling face.
“It was a focal point this time of the year,” says local resident Claire Shepherd. “Families would gather around it and we just brought some kids from a preschool, and they were looking for the bear."
Jennings says this is the worst thing to happen to his farm in 14 years of operation.
"I've had people steal money before, steal pumpkins and stuff, but this is one that definitely takes the cake,” Jennings said.
Jennings believes the vandal drove up with a four-wheeler and poured a line of gasoline in the grass so they could light the bear from afar.
"You can tell there's a black burnt line in the grass where they would have poured something on the bear and lit if from a distance so they weren't near the fire," he said.
The farm isn’t rebuilding the bear until next year, but won’t let the vandals stop them from creating something they loved.
“I’m going to keep doing it and they can keep burning it down,” he said. “I’m just going to keep going at it.”
With a report from CTV Atlantic’s Laura Brown
