Moose in the City was a public art display in the year 2000 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada organized by the municipal government, which placed 326 life-sized moose sculptures throughout the city and decorated by local artists.
Conception
McDonald's Canada founder and senior chairman George Cohon conceived of moose statues being placed across Toronto in June 1999, after seeing Chicago's Cows on Parade. After suggesting the idea to Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman, he was named chairman of the campaign. Anti-globalization activist Naomi Klein was quick to criticize Cohon's involvement: "Mr. Cohon is an expert in transforming cityscapes with iconic plastic monuments."
There was no cost to the city to run the campaign.
Corporations paid $6,000 for the statues, with a standard $1,000 fee going to the artists. A July article stated the fee was $6,500. The fee included materials; one artist exceeded their payment by $140. Artists were given coupons for Benjamin Moore paint.
During the project, he was given "hundreds of little moose things from everybody and anybody." They were at least considered, if not collected by the city, as were a large collection of personal papers.
Fibreglass Fabricators Moose Productions Inc. created the plastic and foam moose. Business owner Mark Selkirk would run for Etobicoke—Lakeshore riding in the 2003 municipal election. Moose keychains, when squeezed, would say "I love Toronto" in Mel Lastman's voice.
Woodbridge clothing company Legacy Sportswear had a contract to provide Moose in the City memorabilia.
The Toronto bid for the 2008 Olympic Games included a stop at the CN Tower, complete with moose.
CBC commentator Rex Murphy labelled Lastman the "Moose "R" Us Mayor". On announcing in 2003 that he would not seek another term as mayor, columnists about Lastman fixated on his "moose crusade", and stated that he was the "go-to guy on the moose file."
Display
Vandalism and theft
Antlers were separate but attached to the moose sculptures. As a result, many were stolen throughout the exhibit, each weighing 2.5 kilograms. As of 22 June, 43.5 of 115 missing antlers were "unaccounted for", and three entire moose were missing. Once vandalism of the moose started, the city started a hotline for moose abuse tips, with messages checked every night.
Steven Dengler, who worked in a Bay Street office, and 12 other lawyers and "techies" launched AntlerWatch.com, a site using digital cameras to record the state of the moose, and act as a centralized, email-based crime reporting service, much like Crime Stoppers. At the time, only 14 moose were in the downtown, with 85 more just revealed. Half of the moose being watched by the site were vandalized or spray-painted by the start of June. The group aimed to have realtime monitoring of moose on webcam, and to form a cooperative agreement with the city on moose protection. Daljit Sing Birak of Brampton was arrested by Toronto police in June, when caught with four antlers, after a 911 call to report the crime in progress. The man was charged with mischief under $5,000; if convicted, he faced a maximum penalty of five years in jail.
One letter to the editor suggested that, without antlers, the moose looked like donkeys. Another letter writer suggested it was either a "frustrated naturalist" correcting the bull moose, who have no antlers during the summer, developing them partway through August, or perhaps feminists, angry there were no cows. Endorsing the moose mutilation, globalization critic Naomi Klein dubbed Antler Watch "a group of corporate vigilantes. She suggested that "Mel was bang on about one thing. The moose have become a blank slate onto which this city projects its creativity. Only it turns out that most of that creativity involves some form of moose mutilation."
One guest columnist claimed "squads of municipal employees apparently work throughout the day to ensure that they are clean and unharmed by vandals." One letter writer described the repair process of moose. Tuesday nights, new antlers would be installed, and painted by Wednesday night. They would be gone by the next Monday. Notices were posted around the moose, asking for information, and video camera pointed towards the moose from nearby buildings. By 29 May, the moose was entirely removed from the spot.
In an August interview, Cohon commented "I don't like to talk about all the vandalism. I never expected people would damage them. It's unfortunate, but it's sort of a thing of the past. It seems to be over now."