Just when you think you’ve heard it all, the Pink Panther goes missing in, of all places, Wiscasset, Maine. But this possible prank is in poor taste: The stuffed likeness of the famed cartoon character was on a sign for First Congregational Church’s Summerfest, an annual event the church uses to raise funds for several area causes.

“It’s like a slap in the face,” said church member Dan Bigley. His wife of 47 years, Zoe Bigley, spent much of Friday, July 18, stuffing the costume that had been found with other costumes stored at the church. She cleaned the pink panther, a panda bear and two chipmunks, but the fake pink fur, pink panther one was calling out to be on the Summerfest sign, she said.

She and her husband filled the costume out by first putting in it a scarecrow on a stake, followed by large amounts of batting that Zoe Bigley got years ago when the Maine Mall was cleaning up after its Christmas displays. She took the batting with her each time the couple moved, and now it had its purpose.

Two pillows were added to make the belly stick out.

The Bigleys took the panther by pickup truck from home on River Point Road to the town common. With Wiscasset’s Route 1 traffic at a summer, Friday afternoon crawl, motorists cheered as the pink panther was going up on the sign. One took a picture, Zoe Bigley said.

The aim was for the decoration to draw attention, and it was working, she said.

That was around 4 p.m. Friday. By 7 a.m. Saturday, the panther was gone.

Dan Bigley was out walking Pepsi, his rescue hound from Puerto Rico, when he saw the sign, sans panther.

“I did  a double-take. I couldn’t even believe it,” he said on July 19. “It didn’t even last 24 hours.”

The couple said they have notified Wiscasset police of the apparent theft. The Bigleys said they would like to see whoever took the panther bring it back.

Not only did the loss take away the added attention for the sign, but whoever made the costume, whenever they made it, put a lot of time into it, Zoe Bigley said.

She said that as she prepared the panther on Friday, she had thought about placing a message on it, saying “Stolen from First Congregational Church,” just in case it disappeared.

Now she wishes she had.

“I didn’t think someone would have done that,” she said about the item’s disappearance.