Morgan the unicorn might not have much to say, but to the residents of Delia, Alta., he’s one of the most beloved community members. But as of Friday, the mystical two-year resident of the small southern Alberta town is missing.
According to Delia resident Jaydee Bixbee, Morgan was stolen “under the cover of darkness” on Thursday night — a task that wouldn’t have been an easy feat for the bandits.
The unicorn statue — painted white with a gold horn and gold hooves — stands at roughly 11 feet tall and is made up of about 600 pounds of stainless steel, Bixbee said. It’s also usually partially buried in the earth outside the Hand Hills Craft and Village Market in the town.
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The owners of the market were gifted the unicorn from friends who originally had it commissioned in the United States to stand outside their campground.
“The small, small community of Delia went from, you know, a population of 215 to 215 plus a unicorn,” Bixbee said.
“There’s not very many things that bring people into our small community but when the unicorn came in, I noticed more people coming through. And even if they didn’t know the unicorn was there, they would stop in Delia, see the unicorn — they would take pictures with it.
“All in all, it’s just been, for me, a really positive thing for our town.”
Bixbee, who lives just two doors down from the patch of grass Morgan called home for the last couple of years, said it would have taken “a couple of tough fellers to get that loose.”
The patch of earth Morgan the unicorn normally stood in the small Alberta town of Delia.
Courtesy: Jaydee Bixbee
Community members believe someone backed up to the unicorn in the middle of the night and somehow got it into the back of a truck, possibly a picker truck, and made off with him. Bixbee added he’s surprised the town’s security system — a man named Keith — didn’t hear any commotion when Morgan was stolen.
RCMP investigators were at the scene Friday afternoon, taking photos of the scene and gathering evidence. The RCMP confirmed the statue was reported stolen, but said it was too early to have suspect or vehicle descriptions.
Bixbee said evidence at the scene included tire tracks and footprints.
“I don’t know how much effort is going to go into matching a footprint for a stolen unicorn,” Bixbee said, adding the community is very hopeful Morgan will be found and returned.
An RCMP takes photos at the scene where Morgan the unicorn statue was stolen from the small Alberta town of Delia.
Courtesy: Jaydee Bixbee
“The (store owners are) quite devastated and, you know, it’s not even my unicorn but… I’m a member of the community of Delia and I like to think that everybody’s going to be pretty devastated,” Bixbee said.
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Bixbee is asking that people in southern and central Alberta — and possibly even farther — be on the lookout for Morgan, and hopes the thieves will realize they took more than just a statue, they took a symbol of the community.
“All in all, this is serious, and we’d love to find it, love to get it back,” he said.
“Bring it back under the cover of darkness, you know, if you don’t want to get in trouble — just drop it off there, no questions asked. We’d just be happy to have it back.”
