A Havelock North business owner is appealing to the public for the whereabouts of her expensive agate elephant sculpture but fears it has already been smashed and sold as individual pieces of stone.  

Louise Stobart, owner of Birdwoods - Gallery, Cafe, Sweet Shop & Sculpture Garden, said they believe those who took the sculpture had been to the property before and knew where the cameras were.

Although the stone was stolen overnight on August 17 - the first night of Alert Level 4 lockdown - it wasn't until three days later when her husband, Bruce, was mowing the lawns and noticed the sculpture's label on the ground. 

"He went to put it back and realized it had gone," Louise said. "And then we looked on our camera footage and were able to identify the night it was taken because it's very clearly there in the daylight hours on the 17th but the next day you can't see it."

But they do remember hearing a noise at about 4am on August 18. 

"It sounded like somebody had knocked something over. It could have been a chair on one of our terraces," she said.

But their cameras did not pick up anything.  

"I've spent hours looking at our camera footage but I couldn't see anybody and no movement or vehicle coming in and out of our driveway." 

Louise says it can only mean one thing - that it was "targeted". But given they are public-facing, she says it wouldn't be hard for someone to scout beforehand. 

"They knew where the cameras were. Police found the hole where they've lifted the deer fence wires to help get the sculpture through." 

She suspects at least two people carried the sculpture for the 400m from where it was situated, to the road. 

"I suspect they probably had a vehicle on the road and two people helped to cross our paddock and then through the fence. So clearly they've worked it out and had been here before."

While they would love for the culprits to either return it or pay for it, they don't believe it will be that simple. 

"I think it's highly unlikely. I think they will have been broken down into, they will have cut it up. It's not going to be sold as a sculpture. I've got to look on Trade Me, but there's lots of agate for sale on Trade Me, and

"It's quite valuable if they broke it down and sold it individually and it would be too risky to sell as one piece because it's so unique. But maybe somebody has seen it and realised that it is stolen."

"It's just disappointing that low lives can do that."

It is the first time someone has stolen one of their sculptures from the garden.

The timing, however, is unfortunate given the impact lockdown has on the hospitality industry, which they are a part of. During Alert Levels 3 and 4, they are unable to operate. 

"The hospitality business is hard enough without a grand theft," she says. "Anybody who has a hospitality business; kitchen, cafe or restaurant, they get hit very hard and recovering from major lockdowns is the hardest." 

While they have been able to draw on the Government's Wage Subsidy for their employees, they have also lost out on revenue from events that have had to be cancelled. 

"We had a big funeral just after lockdown that we couldn't do and that's a big lump sum for us to lose, and we've had many events scheduled for this month and next month, and most of those have all been cancelled." 

But it's the recovery that tends to hit them the hardest. 

"After the last lockdown, it took some time for peoples confidence to get back and that is challenging particularly in the cafe area where the margins are so slim. 

"You have to build that confidence again, got to get the staff motivated, keep them reassured and try and do your best to get back to business as usual. But everybody's in the same boat at this point." 

Police confirmed they received a report on August 24 of a burglary of an agate sculpture from a Middle Road property that had happened sometime overnight on August 17.

"Police have assessed the matter and unfortunately there are currently no further lines of enquiry available," a spokeswoman said. 

"Anyone who may have information which could assist Police is asked to get in touch." 

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