Large, heavy lion ornaments stolen from Whanganui driveway - other garden statues missing

Concrete lions that once guarded the drive to a Whanganui house have been stolen. Photo / supplied

A man who had two concrete lions stolen from his driveway is warning others to secure any large outdoor ornaments.

John Smith - not his real name - arrived in Whanganui two months ago to live in a property on Great North Rd. He said he has had the lions for years, at every house he has been in, and always at the front gate.

They are at least 1m high, solid grey concrete, and heavy. It would take a very strong person, or two people, to move them.

They went missing in mid-February, and he informed Whanganui Police. Since getting fingerprints wasn't possible they said they would do a drive-by, and he assumes they have done that.

Smith has also put three advertisements in the Whanganui Chronicle, seeking to get his lions back and offering a reward. He's had about six calls from people who have seen similar lions.

He's appreciated the calls and gone to investigate, but none of the lions have been his.

The calls alerted him to other people who have had large outdoor ornaments go missing. He's wondering whether someone is stealing to order, or to set up their own garden.

He's planning to get more lions, fix them in place this time, and also install an alarm system.

A statue with huge sentimental value was stolen from a Springvale property.

In another incident, a woman said a large garden statue was stolen from her property in the Springvale area one night in late February.

"It's not just an ordinary garden statue, it has huge sentimental value," the woman, who would not be named, said.

"This statue came from Australia. It's extremely upsetting that a person is walking on to properties when people are in the house and doing this."

The theft had been reported to the police.

The woman said she was aware that several other large garden ornaments had been stolen in the Springvale and St John's Hill area, some of them taken in broad daylight.

"They all had huge sentimental value to those people," she said.