The statue of English explorer Capt. James Cook that stands across from the Fairmont Empress in downtown Victoria was vandalized overnight.
Thursday morning, Victoria city crews could be seen around the statue removing red paint that had been thrown on the life-size bronze statue.
A perimeter of cones could be seen set up around the statue and crews were using a pressure washer to remove the paint.
The red paint appeared to cover Captain Cook’s legs, from the waist down, as well as the surrounding sidewalk area.
Ignorance has no bounds pic.twitter.com/1Zu8tcMtbz
— Victoria Pedicab Company (@VPCPedicabs) August 27, 2020
The motivation for the vandalism is currently unknown, however, during the onset of several major Black Lives Matter protests earlier this summer, a number of statues depicting explorers and Confederate leaders were pulled down or defaced in the United States and in other parts of the world.
Across the Georgia Straight, blue paint was thrown on a statue of Capt. George Vancouver that sits outside of City Hall back in June.
The Captain Cook statue in Victoria marks his arrival in the Inner Harbour back in 1778. A plaque at the base of the statue says it was unveiled by former BC Premier, William Richards Bennett.
Cook was the first English explorer to arrive on the British Columbian coast.
This story will be updated when more information is learned.