In an unbearably cruel act, thieves have stolen two novelty teddy street signs that have become famous drawcards for tourists in a western Queensland town.
The co-owner of Tambo Teddies, Alison Shaw, is pleading for the signs to be returned after they were unscrewed from their poles and removed late last week.
Tourists were often seen taking selfies with the yellow and black "Caution Teddies Crossing" road signs on Arthur Street, she said.
Ms Shaw said it was "shocking" and "disappointing" that someone would want to ruin the fun by stealing the signs.
"They are absolutely a drawcard. They're iconic," Ms Shaw said.
"They're another little icon in Tambo, even though they're associated with our business, they are a little icon on their own.
"People do pull up and take photos all the time with or without a teddy bear."
Fears for teddies' safety
Ms Shaw said the signs held great sentimental value for Tambo residents, as could be seen by the number of comments made by people on Facebook hoping for the signs to be returned.
Many users were worried about the fate of the famous bears themselves.
"How will the teddies get across the road safely now?" asked Mike O'Rourke.
"Teddies need that sign to cross on their crossing. We will all be looking for it," wrote Marg Koppel.
Kelly Kalinoswki was more optimistic.
"Hopefully they've just taken it to the teddy bear picnic and will be back by sundown," she wrote.
Ms Shaw said the signs had been relocated from their original position further down Arthur Street when the store moved to new premises under new owners in 2014.
Replacement ones were then donated when the original ones started looking a little bare.
"About five years ago, we had a lot of road tech crews in town, with a lot of the flood damage roadworks, and these guys actually decided that the old teddy bear crossing signs were too faded and they purchased new signs and put them up," Ms Shaw said.
"That was something they wanted to give the community … so these are the ones that have actually been taken."
Plea for signs to be returned
Ms Shaw said she was still hoping the signs might reappear.
"We would just love them sent back any way possible," she said.
"We won't be cross. We won't be angry. We just really want them back, that's all it boils down to."
She said she did not care if the mystery of the signs' disappearance was solved, and would be happy for them to be returned anonymously.
"I actually don't even care if we don't get to know [who took them]," she said.
"If they turned up there tomorrow, we'd just take it as a good joke."
