Urgent appeal for help after Gruffalo statue and other sculptures stolen from park trail AGAIN

A much-loved park fairy tale trail has been destroyed again with thieves stealing nine of the wooden sculptures including the Gruffalo.

Rangers at Clifton Country Park in Salford were devastated to arrive on site on Friday morning and find that vandals had cut through chains and locks on the park gate to dig out the statues that were secured in place with steel rods.

It's not the first time the Fairy Tale Trail has been targeted. Just a few weeks after it launched in 2017, at a cost of £5,000 with the help of the Friends of Clifton Country Park, the owl carving was nicked after vandals sawed through the wood above its claws to remove it. A few weeks later, the fox carving had its nose sawn off.

Then last January we reported how eight sculptures were stolen from the site, which is accessed via Clifton House Road, which runs off the A666.

They were replaced with new ones in August, with families delighted to see them return. But this week, they've vanished again, with thieves using heavy-duty tools to dig out the statues and remove them from the trail.

Councillor Barbara Bentham, Salford council's lead member for neighbourhoods, environment and community safety, said: "Myself, along with staff from our Ranger Team and many residents from the local community are once again truly devastated at the theft of these carved wooden sculptures from Clifton Country Park.

"Nine different sculptures of a bear, fox, fairy house, eagle, squirrel, honeycomb, owl, ladybird and the Gruffalo were stolen from the park, which formed part of a popular family walking trail around the lake.

"This is the second time in 12 months that the park has been ransacked and these sculptures removed in this way. Following the initial theft in December