The owners of Sloanes General Store in Alcova say some Grinch Dino-napped their 10-foot-long, 300-pound green Sinclair Apatosaurus.
They want it back, and haven’t given up searching for their mascot since it disappeared last month.
The combined store and gas station, like others across the state, carries Sinclair brand gasoline, and the dinosaur is a big part of the company’s identity.
The long-necked dinosaur arrived two years after Brian Black and his wife bought the store in 2014. Sinclair “refreshed” the site with upgrades to the facility and the new dino, he said.
The Blacks have paid Sinclair for the trademarked symbol through the store’s gas sales.
It has a name — DINO (Dye-no) — is worth $8,000, and the couple will be obligated to buy a new one from the company if the pilfered statue isn’t returned or recovered.
“It is very much part of their image,” Black said. “Every quarter a secret shopper comes in to kind of check on us, and that’s one thing that we get graded on is the condition of the dinosaur.”
That condition now is “missing."
Black said he arrived at the store on Nov. 10 and found the mascot, which also was a popular spot for customers taking selfies, gone.
It had sat inside a partially fenced and grassy picnic area behind tables on the west side of the store and adjacent to Kortes Road.
How it can just disappear without a trace, or what someone could do with the large, heavy, statue, is anyone’s guess.
‘He’s A Pretty Big Guy'
In the past, the biggest temptation for people involving the Apatosaurus has been sitting on its back for a photo shoot.
Black said it's made out of fiberglass and tends to get scratched up and chipped. It’s the store’s job to keep it in good condition.
“We don’t want people climbing on him for a lot of reasons,” he said. "But I don’t mind if people take pictures next to him.
"We don’t know what happened to it, but he’s a pretty big guy, so he just doesn’t walk off.”
Natrona County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Kiera Hett said investigators have identified a Ford pickup from surveillance video and may have been involved in the crime.
The truck appears to be missing sections of body trim on the driver’s side, had a bug deflector attached to the front, and a toolbox mounted in the bed.
If the mystery of the missing dino isn’t solved, a replacement for the green mascot will cost the store a lot of money that small businesses like the Blacks' would find difficult to have to pay out.
For the holidays last year, another green creature — the Grinch — was featured on a sign behind the dinosaur calling for people to ice fish, stop in at the store and implored of people: “Don’t be a Grinch.”
It appears that for this season, that advice has been ignored.
“We sure would like to have him back,” Black said. “I would do ‘no questions asked,’ personally.
"It’s an $8,000 deal, so it’s actually a felony and whoever took it could see jail time if they get caught. We just want him back.”
Hett confirmed that a felony theft charge would be appropriate for the incident.
Anyone with information about the vehicle or the stolen statue is encouraged to contact the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office at 307-235-9282.
Anonymous tips can be submitted to Crime Stoppers of Central Wyoming at crimestopperscasper.org or by calling 307-577-8477. Information reported through Crime Stoppers that assists the investigation may be eligible for a cash reward.
Contact Dale Killingbeck at dale@cowboystatedaily.com
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
