NJ business owner hopes to replace white horse statue stolen by teens
ELM, N.J. (CBS) -- A landmark will no longer greet travelers on their way to the Jersey Shore.
The white horse has been in the same spot for 65 years. It's been vandalized in the past but never stolen or destroyed.
You may recognize the white horse statue that sits out front of White Horse Farms along the White Horse Pike in South Jersey.
"It's kinda that halfway point when you get to the horse, you are almost at the Jersey Shore if you are coming from Philadelphia," Neil Pastore, Owner of Pastore Orchards, said.
But now, police say it's been vandalized and stolen by a group of teens around April Fools Day.
"You can see it is made of wood, so it didn't blow away and it's wrapped in plastic," Pastore said.
Police say when the teens went to steal it during a prank, it broke and they discarded it in a nearby lake and its remains cannot be recovered.
"It's been vandalized and pranked upon and painted and I'm sure it's been sat upon and pictures taken on it but this is the first time it has been destroyed," Pastore said.
Pastore grew up in the area and owns Pastore Orchards, a fourth-generation commercial family farm with a retail road stand in Elm New Jersey, right outside of Hammonton.
They recently acquired White Horse Farms and the down the road and the white horse came with it.
He says knowing they can't get the horse back is upsetting, especially to see a video of how it was taken. He says the statue is filled with memories and he hopes to bring that back to town someday.
"It is kind of a staple in the town. I don't know it was such a big deal until it went missing," Pastore said.
Pastore's intention is to find some way to replace the horse and says the difficult part is finding something that is similar to make it special again.