Eagle returns to Panboola

The eagle, made by Tanja sculptor Richard Moffatt, was erected on top of a five-metre pole in July 2010 but was stolen in November 2011. Last week it was found on a property in Bombala.

Panboola project co-ordinator Michelle Richmond said that a woman came to see her convinced her husband had seen the eagle from Panboola.

“We have had a number of sightings over the years. People have been on the lookout for a long time even checking on online sales. We never gave up hope that we’d find it, but we started to think that it had gone out of the area,” Ms Richmond said.

Senior Constable Nathan Marks of Bombala Police said the statue was in the rear of a residence in Bombala.

“I went to inspect it and compare it with the photo I had been sent. I found it on two pallets covered in blankets and took it back to the station,” he said.

By the end of last week the eagle had been positively identified. On Tuesday there was delight as it was installed in its temporary home at Watson’s Waterhole.

Last year, following crowd funding, another eagle was purchased and installed at the entrance to Panboola to replace the stolen sculpture. 

The returned eagle will stay at Watson’s Waterhole until further landscaping is completed. It could then be permanently installed, on its original five-metre roost, which was kept.

There will be celebration at the wetland’s AGM next Tuesday afternoon, although Ms Richmond said there would a formal celebration later. Ms Richmond thanked the police for their swift action.

“We also want to thank the community. They give so much to this area and we really value the time, money, love and care they provide.”

Charges are unlikely to follow the discovery as there was only one account of how the eagle arrived in Bombala. Police said they were told that the sculpture was found in the Pambula River.

Ms Richmond said in the intervening years, they had learnt a lot about securing the assets of Panboola through the use of movement activated cameras.