[MSN] Canada. Canada police find head of stolen Ukraine statue.

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Canada police find head of stolen Ukraine statue
Wed Jan 3, 2007 4:14 PM EST 
  
By Cameron French
TORONTO (Reuters) - The desire to cash in on soaring copper prices is being
blamed for the theft of a bronze statue brought to Canada over 50 years ago
to commemorate Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko.

Police recovered the head of the 3-meter (10-foot), two-tonne likeness this
week at a metal recycling business just west of Toronto.

They are now hunting for the body, which is estimated to be worth somewhere
close to C$20,000 ($17,000) in scrap metal, but has a far greater value to
the 1 million strong Ukrainian diaspora in Canada.

"It's been devastating to the great majority of Ukrainian Canadians," said
Andrew Gregorovich, vice-president of the Taras H. Shevchenko Museum and
Memorial Park Foundation in Toronto.

The statue of Shevchenko, a 19th-century cultural icon sometimes called the
"Bard of Ukraine," disappeared last month from a park in suburban Oakville,
west of Toronto. Thieves left just the statue's bronze feet and its stone
pedestal.

Police found the partially damaged head after a tip from the recycling shop
where two men had sold the metal. One man has been charged in what police
say is part of a growing rash of thefts of metal made increasingly valuable
by soaring commodity demand.

"We do (see a lot of scrap metal theft)," said Halton Region police public
affairs officer Peter Payne.

"But this is the first time in (the area) we've ever lost a valuable piece
of metal artwork that's been reduced to scrap. It's pretty unfortunate."

Bronze is largely made up of copper alloys. Copper has approximately doubled
in price over the past two years. On Wednesday the copper price in London
was $5,855 a ton.

Earlier in December, a 250 kilogram (550 pound) copper statue of Greek
mythological figure Atlas was stolen from in front of a metal fabricating
company in north Toronto. The statue was later recovered and a man was
charged.

The Shevchenko statue was erected in 1951 as a gift from the Soviet Union to
honor 60 years of Ukrainian settlement in Canada. Ukraine became independent
after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
Gregorovich said there have been at time mixed feelings toward the statue
because of its Soviet origins, but the figure of Shevchenko -- whose
writings are credited with contributing greatly to Ukraine's national
consciousness -- largely transcends politics.

He said the Shevchenko museum may put the head on display if the rest of the
statue is not recovered.

http://ca.today.reuters.com/