A yellow bucket stolen from Wellington's Cuba Street fountain a few weeks ago has been found, albeit re-coated with a coat of festive golden paint.
Wellington City Council has been trying to solve the mystery about who stole one of the buckets back in October this year.
At the time Wellington City Council spokesperson Richard MacLean said CCTV footage was being scrutinised to try to find clues to its disappearance.
MacLean told 1News it would not have been easy to take one of the buckets and the thief would’ve needed tools to do it.
One of the yellow buckets from the Cuba Street fountain vanished a few weeks ago. (Source: 1News)
But on Tuesday the bucket was found after a joint effort between the council and police.
In a tweet, Wellington City Council called it "a Christmas miracle".
"Christmas has come early for Cuba Street!," the tweet read.
"A great collaborative effort between Wellington City Council and the New Zealand Police has led to the return of the yellow bucket stolen from its rightful place in October this year."
The council said the bucket had been "spotted on social media in the wrong hands by a member of the public (thank you, you know who you are), Council passed on all their intel to the authorities for a proper investigation, and the bucket was successfully rescued today".
The rescued bucket features a new gold veneer and what appears to be a dragon painted at one end.
"Can we keep the dragon? As a treat?" one Twitter user asked the council.
"It does look pretty sweet. And is like a scar, warning off other potential thieves," said another user.
However, while council has organised a replacement, the stolen one will need repairs.
The bucket is "not in great shape" council says, and "will need some TLC before it can get operating again".
"In the meantime engineers are still working on the original replacement, which will be up and running in a week or two."
One person is being spoken to and dealt with by way of the restorative justice process, the council says.
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