BOSTON (AP/WHDH) — Boston authorities have covered a new turtle sculpture at a playground after several parents complained that the bronze model was getting superheated by the sun and burning children.
One City of Boston 311 complaint included a picture of someone holding a temperature scanner over Myrtle the Turtle’s shell that read 133 degrees. The turtle “is dangerous and should not be in a playground,” the complaint said.
Another complaint said, “This turtle is a liability on the playground. Please remove.”
The four-foot sculpture of a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle at the Myrtle Street Playground in the city’s Beacon Hill neighborhood is now temporarily covered by a tarp held down by rope.
Local sculptor, Nancy Schön, was asked to create the statue in honor of a sea turtle that has called the New England Aquarium home for nearly 50 years. She says the complaints have been upsetting.
“I not only have lost sleep, but I also haven’t stopped crying,” she said. “I’m heartbroken.”
Schön’s beloved work includes the Make Way for Ducklings statues in the Boston Public Garden. She doesn’t want to see her work removed.
“Bronze gets hot, we know that,” she said. “If all bronze that was hot is removed, there wouldn’t be a bronze in the whole world.”
Ryan Woods, a spokesman for the Parks and Recreation Department, told 7NEWS the city is looking into having some sort of a shade canopy that could go over the turtle.
No decisions have been made but Woods says the ideal goal is to keep the statue in the park.
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