Navy Will Let Wisconsin Keep Badger Statue for 50 More Years

MADISON, Wis. — The Navy will let Wisconsin keep its beloved badger statue for 50 more years, scrapping plans to move the sculpture to an East Coast museum.

The statue, sculpted from melted-down cannons seized from Cuba during the Spanish-American War, was affixed to the first USS Wisconsin before World War I. The U.S. Naval Academy Museum lent it to the state in 1988. It has sat outside the governor's office in the state Capitol since 1989, delighting thousands of tourists who rub its nose for good luck.

The academy museum contacted state officials in March 2020 asking for the statue's return so it could be lent to the nonprofit Nauticus Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, where the second USS Wisconsin is berthed as an exhibit.

State historians balked, and U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican and former Marine, joined the effort to keep the statue in Madison. The Navy last February agreed to extend the loan for two more years.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/01/20/navy-will-let-wisconsin-keep-badger-statue-50-more-years.html