ST. ANTHONY — A wooden panda bear statute is back where it belongs after being stolen from a Twin Cities elementary school.

The panda serves as a mascot for St. Anthony’s Wilshire Park Elementary School. Police say someone unbolted the 5-foot-tall, 100-pound statue from a concrete slab and made off with it July 15.

Capt. Dominic Cotroneo said recent publicity about the theft may have caused the thief or thieves to return the statue to the school.

Cotroneo said the base of the bear was slightly damaged.

Police plan to look at surveillance video to see if they can figure out who took the statue.