Youths have admitted accidentally damaging the cut-out of a Beltie cow in Moffat’s Station Park.
The Beltie was one of 12 that was specially produced to make the most of Dumfries and Galloway’s role as “host” region for The Royal Highland Showcase which ended on Sunday.
They were put up across the region – each with a different theme, of which Moffat’s is hills and walking.
However, less than 24 hours after going on display, the Moffat cut-out coo was found to have a piece missing.
Beattock’s Ian Drennan posted pictures of the damage on Visit Moffat’s Facebook page and its chairman Leys Geddes took immediate action so that selfie-fans wouldn’t miss out.
He alerted the police and posted: “I’ve superglued his bottom back on, Not perfect, but better” and said it was now “back on duty”.
Mr Geddes said: “We don’t know if it was vandalism or even an accident with a football or whatever.
“All we know is that it was missing a huge chunk and I glued it back together.
“We have CCTV in the park so the police are going through that to see if they can find out what happened.”
Youths later came forward and admitted they broke it accidentally while playing football.
Mr Geddes added: “We’re delighted Moffat has been included in a Beltie and we hope residents visit and go and get a selfie with it and upload it to the D&G page on the RHASS website ( www.rhass.org.uk ) because they could be in for a prize.
He added: “We’re also thinking about a name for our Beltie and are looking for suggestions – but not “Beltie McBeltface” please.”
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