{"id":526508,"date":"2026-06-30T21:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T21:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/526508\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T21:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T21:34:09","slug":"u-s-inspired-world-cup-beaver-vandalized-in-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/526508\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S.-inspired World Cup beaver vandalized in Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Police say they’re investigating after a U.S.-themed World Cup beaver statue was vandalized over the weekend.Tara Deschamps\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

A United States-themed beaver sculpture designed to welcome World Cup tourists to downtown Toronto was destroyed over the weekend, prompting a police investigation and indignation from the U.S. ambassador to Canada.<\/p>\n

The sculpture was among 51 distinct beaver statues clutching soccer balls under their paws that were displayed in various spots near the St. Lawrence Market and the Hockey Hall of Fame as part of special event organized by the local business district.<\/p>\n

Until recently, the beaver stood four feet tall, with American flags on each cheek framing a wide, toothy grin. It sported a star-spangled USA jersey and was adorned with iconic American symbols, including the Statue of Liberty, a Hawaiian hibiscus flower and a raised Black fist, representing the Black Lives Matter movement.<\/p>\n

Beavers are welcoming World Cup tourists to downtown Toronto<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos posted to social media show the beaver smashed to pieces and laying on its side surrounded by yellow caution tape.<\/p>\n

The statue was damaged some time Saturday night, the Old Town Toronto Business Improvement Area said in an e-mail. The organization has reported the vandalism to police, said Robyn Posner, the organization\u2019s director of marketing.<\/p>\n

The American rodent is not the only victim: a \u201chandful\u201d of other installations have been damaged over the course of the exhibition, Posner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it\u2019s disappointing, damage to temporary installations and public art is an unfortunate risk we anticipate when placing them in public spaces,\u201d Posner said.<\/p>\n

She called the beaver\u2019s destruction \u201cespecially regrettable,\u201d no matter what the culprit\u2019s intentions were.<\/p>\n

Police are aware and investigating what happened to the U.S. beaver, a Toronto police spokesperson said in an e-mail.<\/p>\n

Alyah Holmes, the American-Canadian artist who designed the sculpture, declined an interview on Tuesday afternoon, saying she has received threatening messages since news of the vandalism began to spread.<\/p>\n

The incident caught the attention of U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra, who chimed in on social media. \u201cIt was all Canadians that got hurt in the process,\u201d he said, echoing a comment Holmes made to CTV News.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis act didn\u2019t hurt the United States,\u201d Hoekstra said. \u201cIt hurt a gifted Canadian-American artist, the Toronto community, and the charity this art was set to benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the fleet of rodents, 48 are a tribute to a country represented in the World Cup, one celebrates the tourist-friendly neighbourhood and two welcome global visitors.<\/p>\n

Together, they make up an artistic scavenger hunt put on by the business improvement area. No two creatures are the same.<\/p>\n

Each beaver was hand-painted by artists with roots or other connections to those participating countries and equipped with a QR code linking passersby to a scavenger hunt registration. Participants can earn points by completing challenges and get a chance to win gift cards to local businesses.<\/p>\n

The scavenger hunt continues until Aug. 16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Police say they’re investigating after a U.S.-themed World Cup beaver statue was vandalized…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[2522,307,304,2511,305,306,2523,2476,2503,2524,289,2502,2516,2517,2513,2504,2501,308,113,835,93,246,2515,2509,2533,2505,2506,1523,61,60,2512,166,1529,2525,768,2528,2529,2531,2526,2530,2152,2527,2507,2519,2520,1650,2518,2153,2510,80,2521,2514,2508,268,2532],"class_list":["post-526508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-alberta","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-arts-news","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-design","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-entertainment","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}