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CAVE JUNCTION A federal investigator is still looking into the theft of a calcite formation known as the Bird of Paradise at the Oregon Caves National Monument.
A $1,000 reward is also being offered for information leading to an arrest of the vandals or the return of the formation, said Craig Ackerman, superintendent of the Oregon Caves.
The 12- to 14-inch formation disappeared between 7:40 p.m. July 22 and 9 a.m. July 23, Ackerman said.
The Bird of Paradise was created as water dripped from the cave ceiling to the edge of a ledge. The calcium-rich water formed a white, ice-cream-cone-like formation. As water continued to drip off of this structure, a tail formed on the end. It's between 40,000 and 50,000 years old.
The "Bird of Paradise" had been at the top of a trail leading out of the Ghost Room, the largest room in the cave at about 40 feet high, 50 feet wide and 250 feet long.
A criminal investigator from Olympic National Park in Washington hasn't been able to determine how the caves were entered or how the formation was taken from the ceiling of the cavern, Ackerman said.
"It was in a hard place to get to," Ackerman said. "That's why the formation was still there after 120 some years of visits."
He said if the park service gets the formation back, experts can possibly reattatch it to the ceiling.
Entrances to cave tours are locked when tours are not in progress, and all other known entrances are secured, Ackerman said.
He said officials have added metal plates to gates at entrances since the vandalism so that exceptionally thin people cannot slide through the bars.
Vandalism at the Oregon Caves was prevalent for 25 to 30 years after its discovery in 1874 by bear hunter Elijah Davidson, but has become rare in recent decades, Ackerman said.
The cave became part of the Oregon Caves National Monument in 1909 upon designation by President William Howard Taft.
