Tourist breaks ear off Easter Island Moai head

Finnish Tourist Allegedly Breaks Ear off Easter Island Statue
Tuesday, March 25, 2008

SANTIAGO, Chile — A tourist from Finland faces a prison term and a fine after allegedly breaking a piece of volcanic rock from one of the massive Moai statues on Easter Island.

Twenty-six-year-old Marko Kulju is in custody. His tattoos gave him away. A Rapanui woman says she surprised him as he broke off part of the ear from a statue above Anakena beach. She says he fled the scene with the hunk of rock. Police say they identified him through his tattoos.

Easter Island's Moai statues were carved between 400 and 1,000 years ago. Some stand more than 70 feet tall and weigh 60 tons.

Now Kulju faces a potential prison term and a fine of US$1,900 if convicted of damaging a national monument.

[ Edited by: ikitnrev 2008-03-25 08:15 ]

...throw the friggin' book at this jerk.

To spend as much money as it takes to get to a place as remote and "untouristy" as Rapa Nui demonstrates you understand its importance, which makes this act beyond disrespectful and pretty much unforgivable.

I'm not an alcoholic, I'm an enthusiast.

[ Edited by: leisure master 2008-03-25 10:11 ]

ear for an ear :D

Thank God it wasn't an American. This still sucks though LM is right, I hope they screw this f*#@ shithead to the wall. $1900 is bull especially with the Euro.

I thought I got mad when I accidentally broke a tiki mug, this is like breaking the mug of the angry Moai God, and going to cost him.

The good thing is he got spotted doing it! Imagine how many crimes go unnoticed and they never find the suspect?! I agree that the $1900 should be way higher like $190,000.00 or so....Afterall it is a historical artifact! If I did something that stupid in a museum here in the U.S., I can guarantee my fine would be more than $1,900.00!

Fkin' Finns. Nothing changes. Fkin' Vikings.

Now now, do not anger Thor!

And as far as the culprit is concerned, his fate is sealed!

Here is the picture of the broken ear. The tourist used his hands to tear off the earlobe, which then fell apart into several pieces - he ran away with one of the pieces as a souvenir.

One pound of flesh for one pound of rock. Seems equitable enough to me.

Wow, good thing they were able to identify him by his tattoos. Here's the latest picture of him..

Jesus maybe they should stone him. The moai looked like it was in pretty good shape. Hard labor I tell you, breakin rocks for about a year. Sounds like he needs to get it out of his system.

That's not QUITE how I pictured a citizen of Finland. He looks more like a descendant of the short ears, who perhaps was overcome by an ancient genetic imperative!

Hard labor sounds right, and that in the statue quarry on Easter Island -making a new one, same size.

P.S.: Who's Mike Tyson?

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-03-25 19:28 ]

Jeez, I just noticed...when did I hit my 4000st post? Does this prove that writing about Tiki is a compulsion of mine, or what!

I agree with leisure master, THROW THE BOOK OF TIKI at the bastard!!!!

On 2008-03-25 20:52, thefuzz wrote:
I agree with leisure master, THROW THE BOOK OF TIKI at the bastard!!!!

Soft cover or hard cover, is the question. The latter is heavier...but the cover is padded. What a dilemma. And anyway, at the current prices it would be foolish:

The Book of Tiki (Hardcover) $249.00 + $3.99shipping

Used - Like New
Seller: ARBITRARYBOOKS
Rating:97% positive over the past 12 months (430 ratings.) 2336 lifetime ratings.
Shipping: In Stock. Ships from MA, United States Expedited shipping available International shipping available See shipping rates
Comments: Like NEW-- A New, unread copy, very slight superficial scuffing to back cover, superb otherwise. Hardcover, very scarce.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-03-25 21:02 ]

[ Edited by: thefuzz 2008-03-25 21:07 ]

Soft cover or hard cover, is the question. The latter is heavier...but the cover is padded. What a dilemma. And anyway, at the current prices it would be foolish:

The Book of Tiki (Hardcover) $249.00 + $3.99shipping

Well, let's hope you saved a few so you could sell'em for a retirement fund !

I can't belive that! Is it time for a reprinting or something :P ??

That time has long PASSED! I mentioned my frustration about that elsewhere here. My publisher believes that TWO books on Tiki by me would confuse the buying public.
But back to the crime of THIS month: Moai ear ache

Boy do I love picking at scabs....haaahhaa, sorry for opening old wounds. Let’s get back onto this fool and the ear.
Is there any statement from his embassy or county, possibly an apology?

Wow,
I was shocked to read this... then I just remembered that my buddy Marcus (adrift clothing) left for Rapa Nui this week. I was worried for a second because I asked him to bring me back a stone carved moai and I could just picture him day dreaming as he touched the moai and a chunk falling off. Well, glad to hear it wasn't an American too!

Thank God he wasn't a Frenchmen ...You know how those 'French' like to attack ears.......

That's why they had to put Plymouth Rock in a cage. When I grew up in Connecticut you could walk right up to the thing. But people kept chipping off souvenirs, so eventually they had to cage it off. Imagine the same problem with hundreds of ancient relics in a place that is less defensible. The tourism business there actually hurts the island rather than stimulating the economy to better protect its monuments. The place needs huge grants to preserve these priceless artifacts, not tourist money.

Hmph. English is just my first language.

[ Edited by: The Gnomon 2008-03-26 06:59 ]

On 2008-03-26 06:41, The Gnomon wrote:
That's why they had to put Plymouth Rock in a cage. When I grew up in Connecticut you could walk right up to the thing. But people kept chipping off souvenirs, so eventually they had to cage it off. Imagine the same problem with hundreds of ancient relics in a place that is less defensible. The tourism business there actually hurts the island rather than stimulating the economy to better protect its monuments. The place needs huge grants to preserve these priceless artifacts, not tourist money.

Hmph. English is just my first language.

[ Edited by: The Gnomon 2008-03-26 06:59 ]

Stonehenge is barely worth seeing these days because of the fence put up to avoid this type of crap.
Would be awful for the same to happen on Rapa Nui!!!

if you want to help preservation on Rapa Nui, here's a great place to start giving to:
http://www.islandheritage.org/

Thank God he wasn't Irish.

View from the back.

what an absolute moron.

soon you will be obliged to be shown around the island by an official guide / chaperone who will treat you like a herd of cattle. Its the only way to protect these beautiful artifacts as fences etc just aren't possible. that would be a shame as my favourite memory of Rapa nui is just roaming all by ourselves amongst these great giants.

On 2008-03-25 08:27, teaKEY wrote:
ear for an ear :D

.....It looks like the mayor agrees with you....

SANTIAGO, Chile | The mayor of Easter Island said Thursday he wished the tourist accused of chipping an earlobe off an ancient Maoi statue could have his ear clipped off as “justice.”

Finnish tourist Marko Kulju, 26, issued a public apology through a Chilean newspaper on Thursday, saying he regretted the incident that has caused an uproar on the South Pacific island, a Chilean territory.

It was not clear whether Mayor Pedro Edmunds Paoa had read the published apology.

“If an ear is cut off, then an ear gets cut,” Edmunds Paoa told Cooperative radio. “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth: That would be my form of justice.”

Exactly why we pass laws in this country to "protect us from ourselves". Faqing morons like this ruin it for everybody...I say, cut off his tiki so he cannot reproduce this idiot gene. If I can't have the right to walk freely and responsibly up to something like this, then he shouldn't have the right to procreate and bring more idiots into the world. :lol: , I'm just stating what most of you are thinking! :P

edited to tone down vulgarity, but still keeping the point made

[ Edited by: Tom Slick 2008-03-28 09:03 ]

These kids today, man... I saw it coming with Woodstock '99. UTTER PROOF of the failure of the "Time out" system of child discipline. If those limpy ex-hippie-gone-yuppie parents would have unhooked the 'ol belt once in awhile, this sort of thing would happen a helluva lot less. But Noooooooeeeew.

haha, agreed! Let the castrations begin! :D

On 2008-03-25 21:16, bigbrotiki wrote:
That time has long PASSED! I mentioned my frustration about that elsewhere here. My publisher believes that TWO books on Tiki by me would confuse the buying public.
But back to the crime of THIS month: Moai ear ache

Who's your publisher? I'll write and complain that I can't find your first book -- at least not one I can afford. I'll bet a bunch of us writing might make a difference.

As for the ear. I can think of other body parts that could be sacrificed to make amends.

It's a sad day when I can't pleasure myself with a cheap laugh on a TC post. A sad day indeed! WHAT WAS MARKO KULJU THINKING? I know, I know.. HE WASN'T! It beggars belief that someone would even think that the act of defacing a Moai would be acceptable to themselves let alone anyone else.

I'm sure all of the TC Ohana will join me in offering an apology to the Rapa Nui people, past and present. We are truly sorry that, not for the first time, outsiders have accepted your hospitality and then felt fit to spoiled your culture. We don't ask for your forgiveness. IT IS UNFORGIVABLE!!

Yeah, the guy is worse than a moron, but please remember this story if you ever try to 'chip off' a tiki mug from a tiki restaurant or bar. NOT the same league I know, but it's only a line in the sand. Sadly in this case, on Anakena beach. It is about respect!

Sermon over - Trader Jim (Make mine a Kava Kava!).

PS. Now where's a post I CAN get a cheap pleasure from?

Unfortunately, crap like this has happened throughout time...the Sphinx, Stonehenge, and on and on...

As a species, we should have evolved above this type of action by now.

Your right, publicly cane his parents (if for any reason, that they don't forget to wallop this little turd)...and second, cut the kids ear off, and sew it to his lip!

Babalu...could you possibly fabricate a rabbit ear to attach to the Moai?

I could Conga, but then someone would have to cut my ear off and sew it to my lip... :)

I wish I had a pet pterodactyl. I would throw tjat idiot into a volcano.

No jailtime for the vandal, who also gets to keep his ear .....

"A Chile court ruled Friday that Marko Kuliju, the 26 year old Finnish man who broke off the earlobe of a moai statue on Easter Island two weeks ago, will be fined US$17,000. Marko will also be banned from the island for the next three years and must make a public apology to local island officials.

The fine includes the estimated US$5,000 it will cost to repair the statue, while the balance will be earmarked towards better protection for the moai statues."

"earmarked" :lol:

On 2008-03-25 08:58, BrickHorn wrote:
Fkin' Finns. Nothing changes. Fkin' Vikings.

They were Vikings Walter?

I really hate to hear things like this, expecially for those of us whom plan on visiting one of these days.

Oh and I am especially pissed to find that the hardcover BOT is being sold for that much. My douchebag former boss stole mine after I lent it too him. Swore on a stack of Bibles he gave it back to me..........

Here is the picture of the Finnish Tourist who broke off the Moai ear - he is the one wearing the red shirt