Museum Of Science Starts Campaign To 'Keep Cliff' The Triceratops
BOSTON (CBS) - Lately, the folks who work at the Museum of Science have been thinking a lot about Cliff.
"A lot of us who have been here a long time feel like it's a big family" says Paul Fontaine, the museum's VP of Education. "Cliff is a true member of the family."
"Hes a friendly outgoing guy. Welcoming particularly to children" says Jim Krause the Executive Director.
But, the museum is set to lose their beloved Cliff in June.
"Everybody likes him. They should keep him!" yells a young visitor named Sam Shea.
They should keep Cliff. And if everything goes well, the museum will hold on to him. But first, they need to come up with $850,000.
Did I mention Cliff is a 65 million year-old Triceratops? Yes. He's a fossil dug up in North Dakota in 2004 and sold at auction for almost a million dollars to a Boston native in 2008.
"A collector from Boston who loves the museum purchased him and asked us to house him for seven years," says Fontaine.
Now, the seven-year loan of the friendly fossil is about to end. But, there's a twist.
"The donor has said to us, if we want we could help him and help us and keep Cliff at the museum."
The still anonymous owner will let Cliff stay in Boston if the museum can raise $850,000.
He's worth $1.2 million. But, as the only dinosaur in the room that's not a replica; he's priceless.
The museum is currently taking donations to try to keep Cliff and are about halfway there. If you'd like to help the "Keep Cliff" campaign, you can go to http://www.mos.org/keepcliff.