Statue of Native American ballerina destroyed and sold to recycling center

The base where the Marjorie Tallchief sculpture once stood, outside the Tulsa Historical Society, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Photograph: Mike Simons/AP

Thieves have destroyed a statue of a Native American ballerina and sold the broken parts to a recycling center in Oklahoma for about $250.

Last week, thieves chopped the statue of Marjorie Tallchief into pieces, prompting outcry among residents in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tallchief was an American ballerina, primarily in the 1940s and 50s, and a member of the Osage Nation.