{"id":390251,"date":"2026-01-25T20:55:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T20:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/390251\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T20:55:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T20:55:20","slug":"wolf-sculpture-standing-guard-outside-inverness-town-house-damaged-in-suspected-act-of-vandalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/390251\/","title":{"rendered":"Wolf sculpture standing guard outside Inverness Town House damaged in suspected act of vandalism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>One of two carved sandstone wolves outside Inverness Town House has been the target of suspected vandalism.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rthmb\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=\" http:=\"\" viewbox=\"0 0 1440 1629\" alt=\"Dog-eared ... the broken sculpture of one of the two wolves outside Inverness Town House. Picture: What's Happening Inverness\" data-root=\"\/_media\/img\/\" data-path=\"DKUQZ6QSFSEZ2PK7MKYN.jpg\" data-ar=\"0.88\"\/>Dog-eared &#8230; the broken sculpture of one of the two wolves outside Inverness Town House. Picture: What&#8217;s Happening Inverness<\/p>\n<p>The sculptures were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inverness-courier.co.uk\/news\/stone-wolves-to-guard-inverness-town-house-176154\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">commissioned a decade ago to replace the then-missing statues of two dogs<\/a>, seen in historic photos perched high on the roof of the A-listed Town House.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rthmb\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=\" http:=\"\" viewbox=\"0 0 770 412\" alt=\"An old photograph of the original dogs on the roof of Inverness Town House. They have since been re-installed.\" data-root=\"\/_media\/img\/\" data-path=\"TOX7GNX64BRQT66Q9YTX.jpg\" data-ar=\"1.87\"\/>An old photograph of the original dogs on the roof of Inverness Town House. They have since been re-installed.<\/p>\n<p>Just before the wolves were due to be installed in September 2017, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.highland.gov.uk\/news\/article\/11726\/stone_wolves_to_guard_inverness_town_house\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the two original statues of the dogs were by chance discovered in unmarked crates<\/a> during a clear-out at a council storage depot.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rthmb\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=\" http:=\"\" viewbox=\"0 0 1640 1848\" alt=\"The broken sculpture of one of the two wolves outside Inverness Town House. Picture: Alasdair Fraser\" data-root=\"\/_media\/img\/\" data-path=\"HNT8OY5KYUS2B7D7M2L6.jpg\" data-ar=\"0.89\"\/>The broken sculpture of one of the two wolves outside Inverness Town House. Picture: Alasdair Fraser<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rthmb\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=\" http:=\"\" viewbox=\"0 0 2280 1657\" alt=\"The broken sculpture of one of the two wolves outside Inverness Town House. Picture: Alasdair Fraser\" data-root=\"\/_media\/img\/\" data-path=\"BRUMMJYXVKR1T5TX5LSV.jpg\" data-ar=\"1.38\"\/>The broken sculpture of one of the two wolves outside Inverness Town House. Picture: Alasdair Fraser<\/p>\n<p>The dogs were installed on the roof again, with the decision then taken to place the new wolf statues at either side of the entrance to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inverness-courier.co.uk\/news\/what-do-councillors-and-the-town-house-have-in-common-419620\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Town House<\/a> as part of its extensive refurbishment.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, they have become a popular attraction for visitors and locals, and a particular source of interest for younger children.<\/p>\n<p>It is not yet known when the damage occurred or whether or not it was malicious or accidental.<\/p>\n<p>But pictures posted on social media in the last 48 hours highlighted damage to one of the wolves\u2019 ears.<\/p>\n<p>Highland Council has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rthmb\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=\" http:=\"\" viewbox=\"0 0 3000 1848\" alt=\"An information board outside Inverness Town House explains the presence of the wolf sculptures.\" data-root=\"\/_media\/img\/\" data-path=\"758JOE461WXELJSERVDQ.jpg\" data-ar=\"1.62\"\/>An information board outside Inverness Town House explains the presence of the wolf sculptures.<\/p>\n<p>The significance of the wolf stems from the fact they once freely roamed the Highlands, prior to extinction locally through hunting and other factors.<\/p>\n<p>They feature heavily in Pictish artwork in stone carvings dated around 500AD.<\/p>\n<p>One such carving, found in a wall at Ardross in the late 1800s, now rests in Inverness Museum, close to the Town House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of two carved sandstone wolves outside Inverness Town House has been the target of suspected vandalism. Dog-eared&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,924,1120,96,445,19491,16338,913,1219,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-390251","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-free","15":"tag-give-me-perspective","16":"tag-highland-council","17":"tag-latest-news","18":"tag-tourism","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}