Large stolen tiger statue recovered by Livonia police

LIVONIA, Mich. (WJBK) - Tigers' opening day may have been rained out but it's all sunny at Mutual Property Management.

The red, white and blue tiger is back home after being stolen this week off the front porch in downtown Farmington.

"It's one of a kind so you can't really hide it unless you put it in your basement or something," said Mark Heppard, owner of Mutual Property Management.

FOX 2 reported him stolen Wednesday night and then about a half hour later, Heppard got a phone call

"The Livonia policeman he actually said I just saw you on the news, and I put two and two together, I realized we had taken him into storage and here we go."

There he was -  in the evidence room -- even wearing a Tigers baseball hat. Livonia police found him last Saturday just hanging out in a field near Stevenson High School but until our story aired, they didn't know who the tiger belonged to.

He's been detached from his base, but otherwise the tiger is in pretty good shape. Not only will he be going back outside, Heppard says the red, white and blue tiger will be getting a proper name.

"We are certainly going to put it back on the front porch," Heppard said. "But we'll have it fastened it on the concrete or chained up unfortunately. 

"We're definitely going to do a naming contest maybe just for kids or do something."

We may never know who stole the tiger but Livonia police are checking to see is there is any surveillance video of the tiger being left outside Stevenson.