Balancing the budget by selling plastic ibex
The canton of Graubünden turned heads at the national exhibition in 2002 with 209 plastic ibex colourfully painted by children. The striking creatures were then returned to the Grisons municipalities. Now the town of Ilanz wants to sell 11 ibex to improve its finances.
The finances of the municipality of Ilanz/Glion are anything but rosy. The municipality is therefore looking to raise money by selling the colourful ibexes, as reported in the official gazette. Until now, the plastic sculptures were scattered among 11 former municipalities that merged ten years ago to form the large municipality of Ilanz/Glion.
The hide of the animals was creatively painted in the colours of the former coat of arms by schoolchildren from the villages in 2002. The ibex were then sent to Expo 02 in French-speaking Switzerland.
Most of the colourful creatures have led a good life in recent years. Some have had a harder existence, such as the ibex of Luven that lives on the roof of a garage exposed to all weathers. But at least he has a few admirers unlike his congeneres in Duvins and Ruscheins. They have to spend their days all alone in a shabby room, with no light and no contact with living creatures.
Now 11 of the 13 animals are being auctioned off. Two were sold at the time to pay the CHF1,200in costs to bring the animals back after the exhibition. If Ilanz/Glion were to sell all 11 ibex at this price, it would bring in a total of CHF13,200. A start, albeit not a big one, to ease the burden on the municipal budget.
Adapted from German by DeepL/ac
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.