The University of Vermont has recovered a black rhinoceros horn with a potential street value of more than $100,000 that was stolen from a locked storage room on campus last year, the school announced Tuesday.
Police received a local tip that eventually led them to Ridgefield, Conn., where someone turned over the artifact in exchange for immunity, said UVM Police Chief Tim Bilodeau.
Police would not say where, who had it or if that person was a student — only that the investigation is continuing and it’s possible someone could be charged.
“Our priority was getting the property back even above prosecution,” Bilodeau said shortly after the horn was returned to campus Tuesday morning.
Staff members in the biology department discovered the theft last April at the university’s Torrey Hall in Burlington, where the horn had been hanging for decades.
A drill had been used to disable a lock on the door.
The horn is 2 feet long and 8 inches wide at its base.
