It came to the Otago Daily Times’ attention after Lincoln Darling, of Darling Realty, posted a picture of the defaced Chrome Bull, by Bik Ismo, in Dowling St.
‘‘It’s really upsetting that this has happened,’’ Mr Darling said.
‘‘The mural was a one-off — we got the artist to come all the way from Portugal to Dunedin to make this work. Then you have these nasty little people wreck it — that doesn’t reflect well on Dunedin.’’
Mr Darling said the city council and police had been informed about the incidents.
‘‘There are now 118 street art masterpieces throughout Dunedin, and it is always a highlight to see visitors discovering them, stopping to admire the artworks and take photos as they explore the city.’’
Graffiti Doctor Roger Knauf said about this time of year he could earn more than $2500 in overnight cleanup jobs.
‘‘We get increased night-time hours and also you’ve got a student population during the winter months, where you don’t have it over the summer months. So it comes in ebbs and flows.’’
He advised anyone who became a victim of a graffiti attack to get it sorted as quickly as possible.
‘‘The main thing I always recommend is just quickly removing it, regardless of your method. It’s speed of removal that tends to dissuade them from re-tagging the building.’’
In recent times, he had noticed graffiti attacks in Moray Pl, Great King St and near the new ACC building.
‘‘My guess is it’s probably down to either somebody new in town or somebody’s changed their tag so they’re trying to get a bit of notoriety by doing a large swathe of tagging across the city.
‘‘Immediate removal is the best remedy ... So the quicker you remove it, the less likely they are to do a repeat performance.’’
The city council has been contacted for comment.
