Bronto lives!

It's official: Durham's decapitated dinosaur will get its head back.

The dino's owner, the Museum of Life and Science, made that official this afternoon.

There's just one thing —

"We need to raise $4,000," museum vice president Julie Ketner Rigby said today, and hopes are that the public will pitch in to help.

An anonymous "museum benefactor" has put up $1,000 and Joe Colopy,
CEO of Bronto Software in Durham, has offered a $2,000 challenge grant
for donations above the first $1,000.

Contributors chipped in $200 at the Durham Community Concert Band last weekend.

"It's good to see such cooperation and progress," said Dusty Wescott, whose father, Richard Wescott, built the brontosaurus as museum curator in 1967.

If
more than $4,000 comes in, Rigby said, the extra money will go toward the statue's further
restoration and future maintenance.

"We're doing repair, not a full restoration," Rigby said. "Depending on how things go, maybe we can do more."

"I believe the Museum has acted a professional, neighborly and compassionate manner," said Mike Shiflett of the Northgate Park neighborhood, near the museum.

Northgate Park residents and others have organized to support repair since vandals cut the head and neck off the museum's 80-foot brontosaurus statue on the night of May 31.

They even created a Facebook group – "Save Durham’s Brontosaurus" — and have plans for t-shirt sales and other money-raising endeavors.

Part of the neck was left at the scene. Durham police recovered the head two days later, but it was severely damaged.

"The museum and the individuals who damaged the brontosaurus have come
to a satisfactory agreement on restitution and consequences," according
to a museum statement.

The brontosaurus is the lone survivor of a "Pre-History Trail" Richard Wescott created at what was, before 1972, the Durham Children's Museum. Now scientifically obsolete ("brontosaurus" is now called "apatosaurus," for example), the old trail has been abandoned for several years. A new, up-to-date Dinosaur Trail opens at the museum in July.

Before the vandalism, Shiflett and other neighbors had conversations with the museum about restoring the weathered dinosaur as a neighborhood landmark. The museum was receptive but the project off until the new trail is finished.

With circumstances changed, the restoration could be finished by the end of this summer, according to the museum statement today.

How to Get Involved
To make a tax-deductible contribution, send a check payable to Museum of Life and Science and note “Bronto” on the memo line. Mail to Museum of Life and Science, 433 Murray Avenue, Durham, NC 27704. To donate online, go to www.lifeandscience.org “Donate and Support – Special Projects”. To make a gift with VISA or MasterCard, call the Museum at 220-5429. All donors to the Museum will receive a receipt for tax deduction.

The Northgate Park Neighborhood Association plans to sell t-shirts and otherwise raise money. E-mail Nancy Rizzo at savethebronto@yahoo.com. To contribute through Northgate Park Neighborhood Association, contact the NPNA Bronto Fund, PO Box 15985, Durham, NC   27704.

To learn more about the Bronto Software challenge grant, visit http://brontonation.com/ and read “For a Bronto in Need”.