The life-sized bull statues will be prominent around Bulls township. Photo/Stuart Munro.
The life-sized bull statues will be prominent around Bulls township. Photo/Stuart Munro.
The people behind the life-sized bull statues popping up around Bulls township are hoping that they will boost tourist numbers.
Peter Geurtjens said similar statues had such an impact in an Australian town and he's confident the spinoffs will be the same in his Rangitikei town.
Mr Geurtjens is amember of the local Lions Club and while the club was winding down it was looking for ways to spend $35,000 it had accumulated.
"Then Annabel Whisker, who's on the Bulls District Community Trust, got on board because they had about $20,000 available. We added that to our funds and pushed on."
That combined total of $55,000 enabled the club to purchase a veritable herd of fibreglass bulls, cows and calves.
"We've ended up with 17 bulls, two standing cows, two sitting cows and half a dozen calves. We've got a 'family' going to Clifton and Bulls primary schools and the rest will be placed around the town," he said.
Already three of the statues - lifelike in every respect - stand at the three State Highway entrances to the township.
The statues have come to Bulls from New Jersey in the US via a factory in Manila and Mr Geurtjens said from the time he found the American company online the bulls were in Bulls about six months later.
"They simply asked what we wanted then made up a sculpture of the bull, sent us images and once we gave the okay the statues were being made in Manila.
"We'd look to source them in New Zealand but we couldn't find anything realistic enough and they were too expensive anyway."
Mr Geurtjens said Bunbury in Western Australia has similar statues and he said locals there say tourist numbers have increased by 30 per cent.
"We're hoping our bulls will have the same impact here. But the feedback so far has been phenomenal. Everyone thinks they're brilliant and it's a great extension of the bulls' theme in our town," he said.
