Navy will let Wisconsin keep badger statue for 50 more years

By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Navy has decided to let Wisconsin keep a beloved badger statue for 50 more years. The U.S. Naval Academy Museum lent the statue to the state more than 30 years ago. It has sat outside the governor’s office in the state Capitol, delighting tourists who rub its nose for luck. The museum asked the state in 2020 to return the statue so it could be moved to the Nauticus Museum in Virginia. Naval officials agreed to let Wisconsin keep the statue for two more years at the behest of state historians. Then Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro sent Gov. Tony Evers a letter this week saying the state could keep the sculpture for the next 50 years.