Boston wants its foo dogs back

Boston -- Two marble foo dogs that had been a landmark in Boston's Chinatown have turned up at the suburban home of a contractor on the Big Dig.

Paul Pedini, a former vice president of Modern Continental, has installed the dogs -- given by the government of Taiwan -- in a roof garden in Lexington, The Boston Herald reported.

Mayor Thomas Menino plans to ask the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to investigate.

“We want the lions back now,” Menino said. “They belong to the city, and the contractor had no authority to take them.”

Modern Continental had responsibility for renovating Chinatown Park. A turnpike authority spokesman said the contract included replacing the foo dogs with replicas, also made of marble.

Pedini denies any wrongdoing. He said he believed the dogs were going to be thrown away and he was saving them from the scrap heap.

Two other dogs were given to the Kowloon Restaurant on Route 1 north of Boston.

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