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Chicago lion statues roar to get people off of them

A Canadian family is one of the first to be scared off by the Art Institute of Chicago lions

When the colourful moose statues filled Toronto, people could climb on them for photos and it never seemed to be an issue. That's probably why we never got anything as cool as what they've installed near a Chicago statue.

Outside the Art Institute of Chicago - which houses Picassos, Monets and Grant Wood's 'American Gothic' - stand two lions. The bronze statues guard the western entrance on the famed Michigan Avenue.

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The one "stands in an attitude of defiance" and the other is "on the prowl", but the two have stood stoic for more than a century not doing much to scare off people who try to climb on them.

Until now.

People who climb on them hoping for that perfect snapshot will now hear the call of the wild as a new recorded roar will sound. People will also hear a warning sound that the police will be called if they don't get down.

Fazal Hashmi and his family from Mississauga, Ontario were the first to experience this while Chicago Tribune reporter Rob Manker was out filming the lions for the story.

"Roarrrrrrrrrr, please stay off the lions. If not, the police will be called." Manker reports the growl pierced the traffic's hum and Hashmi's three sons and nephew quickly climbed down. The family fled, unsure what happened.

"I thought it was just an interactive thing," Hashmi said to the Tribune. "I didn't know we weren't allowed. We don't want to get in any trouble."

There are no signs warning of climbing on the lions, but during the day guards can shoo people away. At night the guards leave and before people could climb at will. There are cameras all over the museum and guards now hit a button to activate the sound from inside when they see people climbing through the surveillance cameras.

"The lions are actually very tall and it's not safe to be climbing on them," said Erin Hogan, the museum's director of public affairs and communications, to the Tribune. "They are works of art in our permanent collection. We try to protect them. I know that they're beloved in the city, they are iconic. A lot of people use them as a symbol of Chicago, and we want them to be around for the next 100 years."

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It makes us wonder about putting sounds with famous Canadian statues. What if the Toronto moose bugled (grunted) or the Robbie Burns statue in Vancouver's Stanley Park belted out, "My love is like a red, red rose." The nickel in Sudbury could make a clinging sound and Shediac's giant lobster could make... whatever noise a lobster makes. Think of the possibilities!

Most of these would probably encourage climbing and some in Chicago worry about the same thing.