The Lorax

Is this the work of anti-environmentalist radicals? A statue of the Dr. Seuss character the Lorax was stolen from the late author’s home in La Jolla, CA over the weekend.

The beloved character created by Seuss (whose real name was Theodore Geisel) “speaks for the trees,” and the statue resided under a tree in Geisel’s widow Audrey Geisel‘s garden, until it went missing some time between Saturday afternoon and Monday morning.

The lone Seuss character on the property, the Lorax has, as an Associated Press report writes, “enjoyed special notoriety because of the recently released film version of Dr. Seuss’s 1971 environmental fable.” The animated film, starring Danny DeVito as the title character, has made the creature more recognizable and perhaps a more appealing target for theft, but the Geisel family is distraught over its disappearance.

Audrey Geisel’s daughter Lark Grey Diamond-Cate, who created the statue and another one similar to it, said, “I want very badly to get our little Lorax back home where he belongs…I hope he hasn’t been taken across the border into Tijuana for scrap.”

Property manager Carl Romero says that Audrey doesn’t want to punish anybody, and just wants the statue returned.

After all, even the Grinch returned all those gifts to Whoville.