A very historically important tusk has been stolen from ‘ The Museum of Natural History’, Paris. The thief, man aged approximately twenty years tried to flee from the premises after he has stolen a tusk of an elephant. The French police was successful in arresting him. He separated the tusk by a chainsaw, ran out and got injured while trying to jump from a wall. He has been treated in a hospital for his fractured ankle and now going through investigations.
This mischief has happened on Saturday in paleontology department of the Natural History Museum. The thief entered through the window into the room. When he started sawing the tusk, security alarm rang, and he somehow managed to escape from the room. That tusk was about 7 pound or three kilos in weight. Also, a neighbor of the museum stated that he heard a peculiar sound of sawing on that night. Police was called very early in the morning, and they found a chainsaw left there!
The Natural History Museum is very popular having almost 1.9 million of visitors in a year. So it is tough to keep it closed due to this kind of accidents. It was opened throughout the weekend, but that impaired elephant skeleton was wrapped with a plastic. Museum’s restoration head, Mr. Jacques said that, it was a replica, not the genuine tusk which was fitted with the skeleton in 19th century. It has very small economical value, but very large historical and scientific value. He also added that the broken tusk can be repaired very soon. Till then, the skeleton is kept aside not being noticeable.
If we look back to the past to know more about this elephant skeleton, then history will say that this elephant was African in origin. It was gifted to Sun King Louis XIV, the French king from the Portuguese king in 1668. It was treated as an attractive star at that moment when it was living in the royal palace ground. The period was about 13 years long! After its death, Natural history collection in Paris got the authority over the skeleton.
Within a very small duration, merely 100 years, numbers of elephant and rhinos fall drastically, from millions to thousands. As a result, since 1989, trading on elephant ivory is banned. Though the motivation of the recent accident, that occurred in the Paris is unknown, it is a great matter of concern!
Similar types of wrack up happened earlier in July 28 2011 at the museum in eastern England called Ipswich Museum where a horn was stolen from a stuffed rhino. In the Essex auction house, a black rhino having mounted head was about to b sold when it was stolen one day before the auction. From then, various auction houses, museums started replacing those rhino horns or elephant tusks with replica.
View the Original article
0 comments:
Post a Comment