A collection of life-size cows designed by Irish artists and public figures had to be taken off the streets of Dublin this week after vandals destroyed several exhibits.
More than 70 cows were placed on the streets of Dublin and Dundalk as part of the Bailey's CowParade 2003, an international cultural art exhibition which visits cities all over the world. However, the first 10 cows which were placed in their city-centre locations were all damaged so badly that the organisers have been forced to remove them and to change the planned locations for all the others.
The idea was that the cows would surprise pedestrians all over Dublin city in places such as College Street, outside the Abbey Theatre, Temple Bar, Dame Street, the Point, Smithfield and Christ Church.
They will now be installed in only a few locations, most of which are either indoor or protected at night, such as St Stephen's Green, the Jervis centre and the Stephen's Green shopping centre.
A Waterford Crystal cow - Wagamoomoo - with 15,000 pieces of hand-cut crystal, will be placed in a glass case in the Jervis Street shopping centre.
Among the artists who have designed cows are John Rocha, Graham Knuttle and Robert Ballagh.
The CowParade has run successfully in several other cities around the world, including London, Auckland, New York and Sydney. In no other city have cows needed to be relocated.
"In Dublin, they were damaged so quickly and so extensively," Mr Gerard Beshoff, the project director of CowParade Ireland, said. "The one on Liffey Street was beheaded. Someone needed a saw to do that; it was fibreglass.
"Both wings were torn off the one in Westmoreland Street. One was stolen, but later recovered. They all had graffiti on them within hours."
"It's so depressing, but not surprising," Ms Amy Wallace, account executive of CowParade Ireland, said. "The awful thing is, we were kind of expecting it in Dublin."
In each city, the cows are auctioned off for charity at the end of the installation period.
In Ireland, the auction at the Guinness Storehouse on September 25th is in aid of the Dublin Simon Community and the Jack and Jill Children's Foundation.
This week at the Galway Arts Festival, a large fibreglass pig was also stolen and damaged.