A pint-sized statue of a Nova Scotia fisherman is back in its rightful location at Peggy’s Cove — all thanks to a group of heroic Dalhousie University students.
Shorty, a wide-eyed, 5’2″ wooden fisherman, was stolen from outside a tourist spot in Peggy’s Cove, N.S., earlier this week.
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Erin O’Connor and friends Roz Brenzel, Kennedy Whelan, Paula Munroe, and Julia Farrow had heard rumors that a statue had been stolen and was being stored at a nearby home in Halifax.
When they saw reports that Shorty had gone missing from Peggy’s Cove they put two and two together, making a plan to take the statue back for owner Peter Richardson, who operates several businesses in the tourist area, including Peggy’s Cove Lobsters.
Richardson bought Shorty for $1,000 to draw customers to his lobster-roll food truck.
The group located the statue in the home and once they verified it was Shorty, loaded it up into a truck and drove away.
“They tried to carry him out themselves and they couldn’t, so they called a roommate whose boyfriend had a truck,” said Richardson. “The five of them managed to get him down the stairs and into the back of the truck.”
He said they later texted their friends to let them know they had taken custody of Shorty, posing for a few photos with the statue before they handed it over.
Richardson said he’s glad to have Shorty back after his adventure, which he suspects was the result of a university prank.
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He says he won’t be pressing charges as long as Shorty is in decent shape.
He plans to secure Shorty to the ground to prevent thefts in the future and has also commissioned a “Mrs. Shorty” in order to make sure the adventurous fisherman doesn’t wander off.
“When Shorty was here he greeted thousands of people,” he said. “People were concerned and they just wanted him to come back.”
Jeff Weiler of Niagara, Ont., who was sightseeing in Peggy’s Cove on Sunday, said he and his wife had heard of Shorty’s plight.
“We drove by about two-and-a-half hours ago coming in and we saw him and said ‘No way. That’s Shorty,”‘ said Weiler. “We pulled by just as he was here so it was kinda cool.”
With files from Whitney Middleton-Oickle and The Canadian Press