{"id":41864,"date":"2021-02-02T20:48:02","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T20:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/02\/02\/navy-pauses-plan-to-move-wisconsin-badger-statue-to-virginia-museum\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:43:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:43:47","slug":"navy-pauses-plan-to-move-wisconsin-badger-statue-to-virginia-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2021\/02\/02\/navy-pauses-plan-to-move-wisconsin-badger-statue-to-virginia-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy pauses plan to move Wisconsin badger statue to Virginia museum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MADISON, Wis. \u2014 Wisconsin\u2019s beloved badger statue will stay at least two more years outside the governor\u2019s state Capitol office after the Navy announced Monday it has paused plans to move it to an East Coast museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statue, crafted from melted-down cannons seized from Cuba during the Spanish-American War, was affixed to the first USS Wisconsin prior to World War I. The U.S. Naval Academy<\/a> loaned it to the state in 1988. It has sat outside the governor\u2019s Capitol office since 1989.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The academy museum contacted state officials last March seeking the statue\u2019s return<\/a> so it could be loaned to the nonprofit Nauticus Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, where the second USS Wisconsin is berthed as an exhibit.<\/p>\n\n\n\t