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Three Model Raptors Beheaded At National Dinosaur Museum

The heads were removed with an angle grinder or hacksaw.
Three dinosaurs lost their heads on Saturday night.
Will Burgess / Reuters
Three dinosaurs lost their heads on Saturday night.

Dinosaurs have really had it tough. First there was that pesky meteor. Now, a Canberra museum displaying their remains has been attacked, the offenders sawing off the heads of three model dinosaurs and escaping.

The damaged dinosaurs were behind security fences at the National Dinosaur Museum in Nicholls, when they were attacked on Saturday night.

The damage to the dinosaur bodies suggests that the heads were removed from the model raptors with an angle grinder or hacksaw. The dinosaurs were in an outside display area when the incident took place and to reach them, the offenders had to scale a 1.2m fence.

Mitchell Seymour was the supervisor on duty at the museum when the beheaded dinosaurs were discovered on Sunday morning.

"It's honestly just thoughtless and selfish," Seymour said of the offenders actions.

In fact, this incident is the fourth the Museum has encountered. The first happened in 2013, when an entire dinosaur was stolen from outside the museum. A very similar thing happened in 2014, when another fibreglass dinosaur was stolen and vandalised. It was later discovered by police after being dumped in a local park.

Seymour told HuffPost Australia that typically these models are imported and expensive to make, so there are thousands of dollars of damages between the three decapitated dinosaurs.

CCTV footage of Saturday's incident shows that the beheading occurred between 10.55pm and 11.20pm on Saturday night.

The heads remain missing. The headless bodies remain in the grounds of the museum.

ACT Policing is asking any witnesses to contact CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.

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