Concrete Cows Vandalised

11 October 2012, 06:00 | Updated: 12 October 2012, 13:05

The people who look after Milton Keynes' famous Concrete Cows say repainting them will cost £2,000 after vandals turned them into skeletons.

The replicas of the statues created in 1978 by the artist Liz Leyh are thought to have been painted into skeletons sometime during the night of Tuesday 9 October 2012, just ahead of Halowe'en.

The Parks Trust say although the painting has been done well and is 'festive', the replicas are going to have to be repainted as cows.

Briony Serginson, Community Team Manager for the Parks Trust says repainting the replicas at Bancroft will cost the charity £2000.

The original Concrete Cows are now kept next to the Oak tree in Central Milton Keynes' Midsummer Place shopping centre, where an eye can be kept on them. 

The sculptures sited at Bancroft have become a popular target for whats known as 'guerilla art.'

Vandals have previously painted the cows pink and dressed them in pyjamas.  One cow was even beheaded.

The Concrete Cows - derided by many people outside Milton Keynes - are loved by people in the new city, and have come to symbolise it.  The home supporters' end at the Milton Keynes Dons' Stadium MK is known as 'The Cowshed'.

The Parks Trust say they will wait until after Halowe'en before repainting the cows in their traditional livery.

Check out our Concrete Cow gallery below.