VANCOUVER, Wash. – Someone cut a cherished piece of public art – a 5-foot-tall statue of Sacagawea and her baby – off its mounting bolts at Fort Clatsop near Astoria over the weekend.

It was the second high-profile theft of a metal statue in the area in a month.

In December, detectives said a security guard and her boyfriend made off with two statues that belonged to the late philanthropist Jean Vollum. Pieces of those statues were found at a local metal recycler.

The bronze these statues are made of can be recycled, and police believe crooks are hacking them to pieces and selling them for drug money.

Police in Astoria said they don't have any suspects in the Sacagawea case.

But the artist who created the statue - Jim Demetro – told KATU Tuesday he's worried this is a growing trend.

"I'm hearing more and more of these things happening now," he said. "I think with the price of copper that's gone up three or four times in the last few years so it's really the metal value that's really driving this type of thing right now."

He is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.

Such thievery is nothing new. In the 1990s, someone stole a bronze bear in downtown Portland near Fifth and Yamhill. It was eventually found in one piece.