Oor Wullie is set to take a trip to hospital after he was targeted by vandals in a Dundee park.
One of the statues on the Oor Wullie Bucket Trail, which was launched on Monday, has had black paint thrown across it.
Dundee City Council has since sent a team to try to clean up the statue, From Oor Roots Up, designed by Joanne McFadyen.
Wullie will have to head for a clean-up and will disappear from the trail for a short time — but organisers of the event insist he’ll be back looking his best in no time.
Hope Reid, 44, membership secretary of the Friends of Magdalen Green, said: “I went to take a picture of my dogs with the statue this morning, as one of the other girls from the green had done yesterday, and noticed something different.
“As I got closer and put my hand on it, I saw that his face was covered in black paint.
“It is absolutely disgraceful. Why can’t people just leave things alone?
“It is soul-destroying, especially when people have made such an effort to paint the statues.
“We’re so disappointed that someone could have done this.”