A 250-million-year-old wedge of the fossil record was stolen from Capitol Reef National Park in Utah five years ago, and the National Park Service (NPS) wants it back. The fossilized footprints were made by a Triassic-era reptile, and a reward of $1,000 is up for grabs for anyone who can help the NPS to track the palaeontological artifact down and bring the thief, or thieves, to justice.

The fossilized footprints are believed to have been hacked out of a trackway in the Capitol Reef National Park sometime between 2017 and 2018. Discovery of the theft came about after a paleontologist commented on photos posted to the Capitol Reef National Park’s Facebook page of the fossils.

“A visitor commented on [the post] and said they had noticed something was missing from that trackway," said the park's acting chief of interpretation Shauna Cotrell to KSL. "It came from a visitor who is a paleontologist and was familiar with the site."

The well-preserved tracks, known as “toe scrapes”, are positive relief casts from track depressions in the underlying mudstone that later filled with fine sands, reports the Charlotte Observer. Their theft, while disappointing, represents just one of the countless cases of thefts that take place in national parks annually, despite officials’ pleas to “leave no trace” when hiking trails that are home to such rich deposits of natural history.

While pocketing souvenirs that lay unclaimed in the wild might seem like a small act, removing artifacts from their authentic final resting place has a catastrophic effect on their scientific value. This is why national parks fall under legal protections that prohibit people from taking things from the land, but the threat of hefty fines and even prison time isn’t always enough to stop people in the act.

“Remorseful returns” from visitors who have stolen from national parks only to later regret it has seen the emergence of “conscience piles” and even museums as NPS sites find themselves with stolen items that can’t be returned to their rightful place. This has been a particularly prevalent problem for the Petrified Forest National Park (PFNP) in Arizona where petrified wood is regularly stolen.

As for the fossilized Triassic-era footprints, the NPS are asking for tips – anonymous or otherwise – to help them track down the stolen fossil, with a reward of $1,000 on the cards should the guilty person(s) be identified and prosecuted.

“Vandalism hurts,” wrote the NPS in a statement about the theft. “Some of the oldest and most extensive reptile tracks in the western United States are found within Capitol Reef National Park. Fossils preserve the record of life on earth and are exceedingly rare.”