ASHLAND — The all-points bulletin has been rescinded. Jake the cast-iron eagle has been found, apparently without a feather out of place.
Rick Ewing, vice president of operations and planning for Ashland University, said Friday morning the four-foot statue was found by the Ashland Police department, laying alongside the road in the 1600 block of Cleveland Avenue.
“We retrieved it and it appears to be undamaged,” Ewing said in an email. “We will give it some TLC and hopefully get it put back in place in the coming weeks.”
Jake, a purple-and-white raptor perched on a globe, was dug up from the ground in front of Jacobs Hall, Ewing said Wednesday, a theft that was discovered Aug. 7.
Ewing said the excavation outside the residence hall was done manually, likely by two or three individuals perhaps armed with a shovel and a spud bar.
“The eagles sit on a globe and that globe is partially encased in concrete,” Ewing said.
He noted there was a possibility the concrete could have lost some of its integrity over the years. Still, Jake could weigh somewhere “between 50 and 100 pounds, or more. It’s not light.”
The university has security cameras, though none of them picked up any footage of the theft, Ewing said.
Jake is one of 25 eagle statues around the AU campus. Most of them arrived several decades ago, apparently stolen from the J.I. Case Company, a tractor manufacturer.
The vast majority of students are not yet on campus for the new semester, according to Ewing, who said “move-in week” begins Aug. 24.
Ewing said Wednesday he was hopeful Jake would be found.
“Many times things disappear on a campus and then show up somewhere else on campus. I am hoping that’s the case,” Ewing said.
