It’s not your typical missing dog story.
The city of West Hollywood is searching for a missing pooch – a nearly 10-foot-tall hot pink one, that is. It’s a sculpture installed for a limited-time public art exhibit.
"Cloned Bulldogs With Water Bottle," created by artist William Sweetlove, consists of six giant dogs -- three pink and three red. They were installed last week.
One of them was nabbed from the median Santa Monica Boulevard between La Cienega Boulevard and Olive Drive (map), where it has been installed.
The sculpture weighs about at least 120 pounds and possibly as much as 200 pounds, according to West Hollywood Cultural Affairs Administrator Andrew Campbell. It sits atop a pedestal that makes the hot pink dog tower over passing cars.
The dog went missing between Sunday night and Monday morning, follwing the massive three-day LA Pride celebration in the city ended. The pride parade had passed right by the sculpture on Sunday.
"We’ve been treating this with the assumption or hope that it’s prank that happened on the spur of the moment when people were partying a little too hard," Campbell said. "We just want it back."
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The location of the theft is on a roadway that fairly well traveled, even in the dead of night.
"We’re all a little surprised," Campbell said. "There’s a 24-hour IHOP right across the street."
The artist, William Sweetlove is offering a reward for the returned sculpture, the city of West Hollywood said in a statement Wednesday.
The city is working with the local station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to locate the statue, which is made of polyurethane. It took four installers to set up, Campbell said.
Sweetlove, a Belgian artist, makes a variety of large animal sculptures. The West Hollywood installation was his first on the West Coast, Campbell said.
The Belgian company that represents Sweetlove, kunzt.be, issued a statement to NBC4 about the apparent theft: "Sweetlove finds it an unfortunate incident, but he assumes that it is someone doing a prank ... like we probably all did stupid things once. He hopes the statue will be returned soon, so his art installation can be completed again. "
Sweetlove's representative at kunzt.be, Kris Ghesquiere, said Sweetlove would be willing to award a $1,600 aluminum frog sculpture, pictured at right, to the person who leads authorities to the missing dog.
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