Kadie the Cow statue defaced with swastika, graffiti. Who’s responsible for cleaning it up?
Columbus’ favorite giant cow got an unwanted makeover that the city must now clean up.
Kadie the Cow, the iconic statue located at the former site of Kinnett Dairies on Manchester Expressway, was vandalized with a Nazi symbol and other graffiti.
City Manager Isaiah Hugley said the city owns the cow, as it was donated to the city when Best Buy moved out, and the city then obtained an easement for access to the property.
City leaders found out about the vandalism during Tuesday’s council meeting.
“We would obviously clean it up,” Hugley said, adding Deputy City Manager Lisa Goodwin was looking into that, and city administrators hoped to get the work done right away.
As the victims of the vandalism, the city also will file a report with the police department, he said.
The 20-feet-tall dairy cow replica that has captivated generations of Columbus residents currently stands at 2925 Manchester Expressway, the former home of Kinnett Dairies, the local dairy plant that erected the statue in 1967.
The property was home to a Best Buy store that has since moved to a new location on Whittlesey Boulevard.
Columbus originally took ownership of Kadie through a resolution on Feb. 20, 2001. Parmalat Global dairy firm Parmalat USA, which bought out Kinnett Dairies in 1998, gave the replica bovine to the city that year.
