“I don’t think I’ve ever been so angry in my professional life as I am at this wanton act of vandalism,” said Johnston, director of Norris University Center, after a donated fiberglass cow was stolen from outside Norris sometime Tuesday morning. “Whoever did it is a punk.”

The perpetrators sawed off the hooves of the cow, “Moo@NU,” to separate it from its 200-pound base, Johnston said. The cow itself weighs about 50 or 60 pounds.

Police said they have no leads on the case but are still investigating.

“We’re looking for it,” said Lt. Rich Stampanato, of University Police. “We were hoping it would turn up floating in the lake.”

The cow was given to NU in the name of the Northwestern Institute for Learning in Retirement. It was shipped here from Switzerland and painted by retired artist Harold Burns. Johnston said because it is an original piece of artwork, the cow is irreplaceable.

Johnston added that the donors’ grandchildren were planning to visit Norris this weekend to have their picture taken with the cow.

“And now the cow is gone,” he said.

Johnston plans to display the severed hooves along with a letter inside Norris today.

The letter compares the vandalism of the cow to vandalism of great works of art such as Michelangelo’s David.

“Who is so arrogant among us, who has the wherewithal to decide what is a work of art?” Johnston said.