Gary the Gorilla: Giant ape statue has been found... sort of

BEAR Scotland staff found the giant gorilla statue on the A92

It was a case that stumped the brightest minds of the nation.

An 8 foot-tall plastic gorilla - stolen, seemingly never to be seen again.

But now, almost exactly a year later, Gary the Gorilla has been found... well, sort of.

The owner, Andrew Scott, has recovered some of the statue - but the front half has been cut off, leaving just the back half.

"I say Gary's back... but basically that's it! We only have Gary's back. He's only half of the gorilla he used to be."

The story of Gary the Gorilla

Gary was stolen from a Lanarkshire garden centre in March 2023. The 8ft (2.4m) ornament made of fibreglass was reported missing from Reynard Nursery in Carluke.

You'd think something that large would be pretty easy to spot, but detectives (including Newsround's very own press packer Ethan) were stumped.

In the weeks that followed, a similar primate was spotted tied to a trailer on motorways across England.

But it turned out this was actually Gary's "brother" - another gorilla made by the same manufacturer.

This is Gary with the member of staff at BEAR Scotland who found him

Hope was seemingly lost, until BEAR Scotland staff, who are responsible for maintaining some of Scotland's main roads, discovered Gary in a layby in the A92 in Fife.

They sent a photo of the back of Gary to the owner, Andrew Scott, who was thrilled and rushed straight over to Dundee to collect him.

But when he arrived, he had quite the shock. Gary's entire front half is still missing!

BEAR Scotland staff sent pictures of Gary from the back, so Andrew didn't know what had happened to the front until he drove to Dundee to pick him up

He told BBC Newsround: "When we first saw the picture from Bear Scotland... we could only see the back of him, and surmised that there might have been some damage to the front.

"But when we got to Dundee to pick him up, there was no front whatsoever! He's been completely cut down the middle."

But why might someone want to saw him in half? Andrew told us he had a theory.

"Gary was really bulky and difficult to move or store anywhere so the only way you could potentially hide him and actually use him is by cutting him that way, and then you could mount him on a wall," he said.

He thinks he might be up on someone's living room wall, away from the prying eyes of the public, as Gary is so famous now that anywhere else he'd be instantly recognised.

Reynard Nursery was sent a series of photos of the gorilla statue on a trailer

But Andrew still thinks there are questions to be answered: "It seems strange that he's got so far away, and really strange that he went missing almost exactly a year ago.

"Why was that half actually tipped? Why did they not just burn it or break it up? I don't know. That's the real question, I don't understand why.

"I've got to put a brave face on it. We've got him back but not got him back, and now we know we probably won't get him back."

The 8ft tall fibre glass structure was taken from Reynard Nursery during the night

But Andrew hasn't completely given up hope - he said he was off to the supermarket to get some superglue on the off chance the front half of Gary is returned to him.

But even if they only have his back, they're still going to put him in pride of place back in the garden centre.

"We will pay homage to him by fixing him to a wall and then putting a sign above him to explain that it's Gary's back."