The headless body of a vandalized Jayhawk sculpture was retrieved Monday from a Dumpster at Sunrise Village Apartments and reunited with its previously recovered head.

“We’re happy to have him back,” said Carol McCaffrey, of KLWN, where the Gogh Hawks Gogh bird was once on display. “No more of this out-of-body experience.”

The sculpture, one of the original stars of Jayhawks on Parade in 2003, disappeared last fall around the time Kansas University’s football team played Kansas State, McCaffrey said. The head was later recovered from a woody area near Gateway Apartments, she said.

But the other half of the sculpture appeared to be long gone until Monday afternoon.

“Someone called the police department and reported the body of the Jayhawk sticking out of a Dumpster,” McCaffrey said. “Now the two have been reunited – the head and the body.”

McCaffrey said she had yet to spread word of the piece’s return, and she did not know whether the bird would be repaired. Several Jayhawk sculptures on display at various public spots across Lawrence have been damaged by vandals during the years.