'Jesus is King': South Dakota bull statue vandalized by people who mistook it for Satanic imagery
A massive statue of a bull's head in South Dakota was apparently mistaken for Satanic imagery by vandals who painted “Satan is defeated” and “Jesus is King" on the base.
The owner of Porter Sculpture Park, which was once listed by TIME Magazine as one of the Top 50 American Roadside Attractions, is Wayne Porter. He says the vandals put graffiti on the bull statue, and beheaded the goat heads off of its four "guardians" standing around nearby.
Porter has has said it will take several years to repair the damage, according to the local news outlet, Sioux Falls Argus Leader.
The vandals struck on May 10, according to the outlet, which interviewed Porter's sister.
"His sister Audrey Porter said that when she got a call from her brother that Wednesday around noon, she immediately realized that something was wrong as usually it was her who was calling her brother and not the other way around," the Argus Leader reported.
“I call him, he doesn’t call me, he might text me about things, but he doesn’t [call],” said Porter, the outlet reported.
Trending reporter Oksana Kotkina said that Porter went to check on his sculpture park in anticipation of its annual opening of the new season, scheduled on May 15.
"Porter was in the far northwest corner of the 18-acre park west of Sioux Falls when he noticed that someone had apparently visited the place before him this year. His sculpture group of the bull and its four guardians was vandalized," Kotkina wrote. "The guardians, which look like human-sized skeletons with protruding ribs and goat-like faces and horns stationed around the bull, were beheaded, and the heads were gone. The bull’s base was spray-painted with the messages 'Satan is defeated,' and 'Jesus is King.'"
Kotkina also noted that there were other statues that had been vandalized, including one apparently depicting Irish monks.
The news was also picked up by the Daily Beast.