BOSTON -- Mrs. Mallard's missing duckling has been found.
The wayward duck was found on Mt. Vernon Street, but police have released few other details about his discovery. There was no word on any arrests.
"Pack," one of the ducklings in the iconic sculpture of a family of ducklings based on the well-known children's book "Make Way For Ducklings," was snatched from the Public Garden Monday morning.
Police recovered it sometime overnight, not far from the where the garden sculpture is located.
There was no word if they know who snatched the bronze sculpture. The thief could face larceny charges for the theft of public art.
"This sculpture has become such an important part of Boston and I just think whoever did it is so mean. I just think it's a mean, cruel thing to have done," sculptor Nancy Schon said.
The sculpture is based on a 1941 book about a pair of mallard ducks who decide to raise their eight little offspring on an island in the Public Garden lagoon. To get there they have to make their way from the Charles River down Mount Vernon Street to the garden.
Author Robert McCloskey won a Caldecott Medal for the drawings in the book and it is also the official children's book of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Park rangers discovered the fowl play while on routine patrol in the park Monday. Pack was the second to last of Mrs. Mallard’s eight bronze ducklings who reside at the corner of Beacon and Charles Streets.
The theft outraged Boston Mayor Tom Menino.
“Not only are the Make Way for Ducklings loved by everyone, but they are public art,” said Mayor Thomas M. Menino. “This act is not a prank, it is a crime."
The Make Way for Ducklings sculpture, was created and installed by Schon in 1987.
Some of Pack's other brass siblings have also been stolen over the years. Quack, Jack and Mack have also been nicked in the past, but all eventually made their way back to mother mallard
Apparently, Bostonians take ducknapping pretty seriously!
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