By Tim Binnall
In a curious caper that recently unfolded in Canada, a group of determined thieves managed to make off with a massive taxidermied polar bear that weighs a whopping 500 pounds. The strange case reportedly occurred last month at the Lionsheart Wholeness Centre in the province of Alberta where the sizeable stuffed creature has been something of a fixture at the resort for years. As such, staff were understandably stunned when they discovered that the bear, which stands approximately 10 to 12 feet tall, suddenly vanished. "It's just so bizarre," the resort's executive director Wanda Rowe marveled, observing that the rather elaborate heist "100 percent had to be planned."
To that end, she noted that the thieves first cut the cables keeping the creature in place, then pulled it down from a second-story balcony and out the front door, where they made their escape with the pilfered polar bear presumably sitting in the back of a truck. Suggesting that this was a crime of opportunity, Rowe explained that the resort usually has around-the-clock security, but guards had been sent home on the night of the caper due to a severe cold snap. While the thieves may think that they managed to pull off the perfect caper, they are now in possession of a rather hard-to-hide giant taxidermied polar bear, which increases the likelihood that they will eventually get caught as, Rowe observed, "that would stick out right away if you saw that anywhere."