Severed wooden legs are all that remain of the mascot that nested on the front lawn of Expectations Women's Health & Childbearing Center.
Barb Bechtel, certified nursing midwife for Expectations, said employees and the Muncie Police Department are searching for "Gregory Peck," the six-foot-tall, wooden stork that perches outside the center to announce births.
When a baby was born at the clinic, employees would hang a blue or pink bundle with a wooden baby in it from the bird's beak, Bechtel said.
Bechtel said an employee saw the mascot when she went into the center to deliver a baby at about 11 p.m. Nov. 1. The employee left about 3 a.m. Nov. 2 and noticed the mascot was missing, Bechtel said.
"There's a lot of irate pregnant people right now," she said. "This woman didn't get to hang her baby from his beak. Having a baby hanging from a stump is kind of macabre. It's just kind of heartbreaking."
Bechtel said, despite security, thieves had stolen the bird twice before: once in the winter of 2005 and again last April.
"We have flood lights all around him," she said. "I don't know why [people] keep taking him. I'm just stumped."
After the last abduction, Expectations employees encased the stork's feet in cement, Bechtel said. Thieves snapped the bird's feet off when they took it this time, she said.
"This time he suffered damage," she said. "This is vandalism."
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
