A moose antler sculpture, valued at $50,000 and was three years in the making, has been stolen from the Canada Games Centre.

'It was a gift to the people of the Yukon,' local artist Shane Wilson, who donated the piece to the city, said in an interview this morning.

The donation was inspired by Ruth McCullough, who has contributed a lot to the Yukon arts community, Wilson said. He pointed to her work in establishing the territory's Permanent Art Collection and other initiatives.

Wilson, who's out of town, learned of the theft this morning after his wife heard about it on the radio.

City parks and recreation manager Linda Rapp had called him on Saturday shortly after the theft was discovered. Wilson, however, hadn't checked his messages over the weekend.

'I was really deeply saddened by the news,' Wilson said, describing it as a piece he intended to be a legacy for the community.

At the same time, he noted the theft is a bit of a strange, and unwanted, compliment, given that thieves took nothing else from the sports complex.

'To be honest, I was shocked,' he said.

Rapp said the break-in likely happened sometime between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Saturday when a city worker was inside the mechanical room resetting various controls after a lengthy power failure.

Though the building was locked, the alarm system had been turned off because of staff moving through the centre.

When more staff members arrived at the complex later Saturday morning, they discovered a section of glass to the right side of the inside door had been broken and the moose antler sculpture on the second floor, between the multi-purpose room and Physio Plus, had been taken.

It's unknown how much it will cost to replace the glass.

'It wasn't an act of vandalism,' Rapp said, pointing out there was no other damage to the building and nothing else was stolen.

While $50,000 is the monetary value for the piece, Rapp described it as 'priceless'.

Both Rapp and Mayor Bev Buckway said in separate interviews the city will be reviewing its safety procedures and looking at ways to prevent such a theft from happening again.

'It's pretty disgusting we have this happening,' Buckway said, also pointing out it was a targeted theft. 'It's just horrible.'

It marks the first such theft for the city. Rapp noted the pre-theft power failure makes the situation a bit more complicated than it may have otherwise been.

While the city looks at whether it may need to change its security procedures at the Games centre, Buckway and Rapp are also hopeful the RCMP investigation into the case will be successful.

Police said this morning the report of the break and enter came in at 6:34 a.m. Saturday, with officers continuing to investigate.

Anyone who has any information about the theft is asked to contact the local RCMP detachment at 667-5555 or, to remain anonymous, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

See story on power failure below.