It’s the type of story you only hear of in a college town.
The Bloomington Police Department is trying to track down the owner of a colorful lion statue after an officer discovered a group trying to move it into a garage in the early morning hours over the weekend.
Administrative Captain Steve Kellams says the suspicious behavior led the officer to stop.
"They admitted that they found it in a yard off of West Kirkwood Avenue," Kellams says. "And, they had picked it up and brought it there."
But when police attempted to return the statue to that house, the people living there admitted they took it from Indiana University’s campus.
IU police don’t have any reports of a missing statute, so now Bloomington police are turning to social media to try and find the rightful owner.
They’ve dubbed the statue “Leo the Lion.”
In a Facebook post, the department writes “Leo misses his family very much. He can’t eat or sleep.”
They’re keeping Leo in a gated area until they hear from the owner.
Kellams says if they don’t, the department will likely dispose of the statue.
"It’s kind of an odd piece, it very well may have been part of a business or part of something that’s closed and the actual owners are no longer around anymore and have no care for it."
Several people have commented on the department’s Facebook post offering to adopt Leo.
