Dinosaur footprint stolen from trail near Moab
By Erin Alberty | The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Feb 21 2014 03:23 pm • Last Updated Feb 22 2014 12:17 pm
Paleontologists are asking for the public’s help in finding a dinosaur footprint that was stolen near Moab.
The footprint was one of about 20 in the Hell’s Revenge jeeping area near the Sand Flats Recreation Area just east of Moab, said ReBecca Hunt-Foster, Canyon Country paleontologist for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
An off-road tour operator took visitors to see the print on Tuesday only to find that the rock containing the print was no longer there.
"It was one of the nicest [tracks]" Hunt-Foster said. The rock had partly loosened from the ground and appears to have been pried free with pry-bars, Hunt-Foster said.
The print is about 1 foot by 2 to 3 feet and was left by a three-toed meat eating dinosaur — likely an ancestor of the Utah state dinosaur, the Allosaurus, Hunt-Foster said.
It was created about 190 million years ago, when the Moab area was part of a "shallow oasis," Hunt-Foster said. The rock with the track likely weighs more than 100 pounds and was probably driven away from the site between Monday and Tuesday, Hunt-Foster said.
Kent Green, the tour operator who reported the print’s disappearance Tuesday had seen it during a tour just one day earlier.
"It’s just really a neat track," said Green, who runs Moab Cowboy Country Offroad Adventures. "The kids — even the adults — just love it. Now it’s gone. The whole community is in an uproar over it. It’s just devastating."
Hunt-Foster described the print as "priceless" and pleaded with the public to share any information that could lead to its return by calling the BLM office at 435-259-2100.
"We still know exactly where it came from," she said. "The public would still be able to see and enjoy it."
Taking dinosaur remains from federal lands, whether in the form of fossils or tracks, is a federal crime under protective laws passed in 2009, Hunt-Foster said. It also is illegal vandalism to use a dinosaur print to make a mold from some other substance; many tracks have been damaged by attempts to pour plaster or silicon over a print and pry out the foot’s replica.
Will people just leave all of the cool stuff in Utah ALONE!!!!!
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When you want peace prepare for war! --Confusious
That was disapointing ..Should we show this Federation how to build a ship so we may have worthy foes? Typhonis 1
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Borgholio wrote:So, what's the point? I mean it's like a work of art stolen from a museum...you can't easily sell it. What the fuck do they plan to do with it?
There are private collectors who pay quite handsomely for things like that.
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The GOP has a problem with anyone coming out of the closet. –18-till-I-die
Yes, almost certainly it's now in a private collection. An extremely well-preserved, large fossil IS as valuable as a work of art in a purely monetary sense. In addition, it will likely have some scientific value as well. It's a serious problem that some of the best fossils found today aren't winding up in museums or under proper study but locked away in private collections.
Likely the reason Sue the T. Rex is on public display and accessible to scientists is because of an agreement between numerous private donors, the California State University System and some corporate heavy-hitters like Walt Disney and McDonald's to help the Field Museum of Chicago to outbid everyone else at the auction of the bones. Museums can't afford to mount such an effort for every valuable fossil, unfortunately.
Of course, not every fossil is scientifically important. You can legally purchase very nice common specimens. Pity some people are greedy and selfish.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
"The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."
Why is it so goddamned hard to get little assholes like you to admit it when you fuck up? Is it pride? What gives you the right to have any pride?
–Darth Wong to vivftp
GOP message? Why don't they just come out of the closet: FASCISTS R' US –Patrick Degan
The GOP has a problem with anyone coming out of the closet. –18-till-I-die
So apparently not only does the public not get to experiance this artifact but it won't even make it to a private collection. Whoever took it decided to just toss it into the Colorado River when the case went public.
Divers couldn't find it and due to the limestone it is made out of there is only so much time to recover it though its a bit more durable than some limestone types apparenty.
I saw another story that said charges against a suspect were made but there were no other details. Seriously, what a pointless waste.
The thief panicked and dumped the evidence in the river instead of just leaving it outside a ranger's office.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
Well that is just perfect. Now it's likely no one will get to enjoy it anymore.
At least they know where is it now. It's doubtful that is can be put back where it came from now.
Hapan Battle Dragons Rule!
When you want peace prepare for war! --Confusious
That was disapointing ..Should we show this Federation how to build a ship so we may have worthy foes? Typhonis 1
The Prince of The Writer's Guild|HAB Spacewolf Tank General| God Bless America!
