UNIONTOWN, Pa. --
Uniontown Police are investigating the theft of an eight foot, 800-pound, stuffed and mounted bear.
It was taken late Saturday night from the covered patio of the Eagle's Nest Bar on Morgantown Street.
Owner John El-Ayazra told Channel 11's Gordon Loesch that five men were on the patio drinking when a cook came outside and saw the customers pushing the bear over a locked railing.
The cook yelled at the men, who dropped the bear and ran away.
"Everybody knows the bear. Everybody go there, take picture with it," said El-Ayazra.
Police were not able to push the bear back upstairs, so they left it outside under the stairwell.
But police believe the same thieves later returned, and dragged the trophy away.
El-Ayazra said the bear was given to him by a friend who shot it ten years ago in Russia.
It's been on the patio since.
"If it was a joke, the bear would be here by now," said El-Ayazra, "I think it's a serious crime. The bear is worth ... cost about ten thousand dollars. It's not a cheap bear."
One of the thieves used his credit card while buying drinks.
El-Ayazra is working to get the man's information from the credit card company, and police are reviewing surveillance video from a nearby home.
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