Drumheller's mega-popular tourist-luring dinosaur faces extinction. Now, the fight is on to save her

Bill Graveland · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Mar 28, 2025 4:44 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

Tyra the Tyrannosaurus, the lovable landmark that towers implicit the Drumheller skyline successful the bosom of the Canadian Badlands, is facing an extinction-level event.

The 25-metre-high attraction — billed arsenic the World's Largest Dinosaur, and the backdrop to hundreds of thousands of tourer photos implicit a 4th of a period — is acceptable to go past by 2029.

But the combat implicit her destiny whitethorn person conscionable begun successful this municipality that sits northeast of Calgary.

The Drumheller and District Chamber of Commerce, which leases the onshore the iconic statue sits on, announced this week that Tyra and the accompanying visitant centre volition beryllium dismantled 4 years from now.

"While this announcement is simply a hard one, it's besides an accidental for the enclosure to refocus connected our halfway mission: supporting section businesses, advocating connected their behalf and fostering economical maturation successful Drumheller," said Lana Phillips, president of the chamber.

The enclosure says it volition guarantee that Tyra's bequest continues done assemblage initiatives, storytelling and imaginable commemorative projects.

"Tyra's communicative isn't ending — it's evolving," said Heather Bitz, enforcement manager of the chamber. "We'll beryllium looking for ways to honour the memories, stories, and assemblage interaction that Tyra has created implicit the years."

Tyra was unveiled arsenic a tourism attraction successful 2000.

She weighs 65 tonnes and is much than 4 times bigger than a existent Tyrannosaurus Rex. She is interactive, inviting tourists to ascent the 106 stairs that comprise her innards to basal wrong her mouth. (Her jaws tin clasp 12 radical astatine most).

It's estimated she hosts 150,000 visitors a year.

She seemed similar the cleanable summation to the manufacture of the municipality of 8,400, which has a affluent practice of dinosaur fossils and is location to the Royal Tyrrell Museum and which hosts implicit 130,000 fossils.

The enclosure announcement has gone implicit similar the asteroid that reportedly ended the dinosaur epoch truthful galore millennia ago.

On Thursday, the Drumheller assembly held an exigency gathering to sermon what it called an "unexpected announcement and voted to conscionable with the enclosure and Travel Drumheller to sermon Tyra's future.

Mayor Heather Colberg said Tyra is 1 of the community's "most beloved landmarks."

"We cognize there's radical retired determination who are upset with the municipality and it's our fault, but the world is we each conscionable recovered retired astir this," Colberg said.

"I inquire the patience of the assemblage to let america clip to sorb this, bash our homework and find retired what the one, three, and five-year program is for the enclosure truthful that we tin bash immoderate reacting and fig retired what the absorption is for the town."

A petition connected change.org has been launched by section businessman AJ Frey to prevention Tyra and support her successful 1 piece. The petition surpassed 1,000 signatures by Friday afternoon.

The petition calls Tyra a "towering awesome of adventure, discovery, and the bosom of our tourism economy."

It adds: "There is inactive clip and accidental to enactment unneurotic — to find sustainable, community-driven solutions that sphere this beloved landmark."

Julia Fielding, enforcement manager of Travel Drumheller, said determination remains clip to sermon the landmark's future.

"It's bittersweet right? She's a large portion of the town," said Fielding. "It's not astatine each municipality bureau you tin basal and spot the caput of a dinosaur erstwhile you look retired the window."