Missing "art" cactus discovered in landfill

From KOB-TV.com - By: Jeff Maher, KOB Eyewitness News 4; Taryn Bianchin, KOB.com - It turns out a $50,000 cactus sculpture that disappeared from a Northeast Heights park Monday night wasn’t stolen--city crews took it to the landfill. KOB Eyewitness News 4’s Jeff Maher broke the original story about the missing statue Tuesday night at 10 p.m. After our story aired, a couple of parks and recreation employees realized they had made a big mistake. Vandals had smashed and unbolted the fiberglass cactus when city workers came across it a couple days ago at Tramway Linear Park near Tramway and Lomas Boulevards. The workers thought it was junk, so they took it to the landfill. According to the city, the workers were responding to a 311 call made by a resident to dispose of a real cactus that had been knocked over. Officials are calling the accidental disposal an honest mistake. “They didn’t know what they were looking at, they didn’t realize that it was a piece of art,” said Chris Ramirez for the City of Albuquerque. “By the time they saw it, it was just something large and green that was [on the ground].” Read full story here News New Mexico

Missing "art" cactus discovered in landfill