Damaged ear of Penn State mascot’s statue repaired

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The damaged ear of a statue of the Pennsylvania State University mascot has been repaired.

Authorities were called to the university’s Nittany Lion Shrine around 4 a.m. Sunday and found that an ear on the right side of the statue had been broken off and was found nearby.

The Centre Daily Times reports Wednesday the ear had been fixed by the university’s Office of Physical Plant. Earlie the statue had a temporary replacement for the ear thanks to Penn State’s 3-D Printing Club.

The statue sculpted from a 13-ton block of limestone in 1940 was vandalized in 1978 and 1994. In 1979, sculptor Heinz Warneke, then 84, made a cast for a new ear.

The Lion lost the ear again in 2003, but it wasn’t thought to be vandalism.