The Lyall Bay moai statue, gifted to Wellington by a former Chilean president, has been felled – and residents believe it was vandalism.

Kilbirnie resident James Grigg, who runs the @WildBayLive handle on Twitter and contributes to the Lyall Bay Facebook page, shared images of the toppled 3.2-tonne Rapa Nui moai on December 30 and 31.

Although Grigg lives in Kilbirnie, he said Lyall Bay held a special place in his heart.

DAVID WHITE/ FAIRFAX NZ The Lyall Bay Easter Island sculture that vandals have pushed over and broken.

"It's the beach that we all [south coast residents] go to."

News of the incident was posted on the Lyall Bay Facebook page just after 10pm by Lyall Bay resident Indu Kapoor, who was on her way home.

"Awful news, the moai sculpture at Dorrie Leslie Park has been tipped over and damaged."

JOHN NICHOLSON/ FAIRFAX NZ The sculpture standing in November at Dorrie Leslie Park.

Kapoor lives across the road, and said she got home just after 6pm, and saw a lady in a campervan looking "disturbed".

"She said there were a couple of boys who were trying to climb the statue and it tipped over."

The woman in the campervan had called the police, Kapoor said.

Grigg went to have a look himself about 9pm, and then posted photos of the statue on its back.

"The whole thing has broken about the neck. My guess at the moment is that it has been pushed off."

Lyall Bay resident Mike Chung also lives across the road, and said the lady in the campervan called the police after she "saw five teenagers push and heave it over".

South coast park ranger Brian Thomas said the two pieces would be taken away with a crane on Friday. "I'm hopeful it will be repaired and reinstated in a few weeks."

The bank in front of it had eroded, so park rangers had intended to reposition it soon anyway.

"It will also end up being a bit better secured than what it was."

The statue was a gift from former Chilean president Ricardo Lagos in 2004.

Thomas said Wellington parks were often targets for vandalism. "But I think this was just a random act – I don't think it's political."

The statue was not the only thing uprooted in Dorrie Leslie Park. Grigg posted on the Lyall Bay Facebook page: "There are also some plants in pots on one of the benches have been pulled out as well."

WHAT ARE MOAI STATUES?

* Moai are monolithic human figures that were carved from rock on the Polynesian island of Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, between 1250 and 1500.

* They are predominantly the living faces of deified ancestors.