A creature from the Cretaceous period has been brought to life on Vancouver Island.
Businessman and former Lantzville mayoral candidate Stan Pottie was one of the successful buyers of an animatronic dinosaur at an auction earlier this month in Langley, and now proudly displays his amargasaurus at the entrance to his property on Clark Drive West where he owns Country Buds CBD health store and operates an excavating company.
More than 50 life-size dinosaurs were sold in a widely publicized auction Aug. 6 at Langley’s Able Auctions.
A friend told Pottie about the auction, saying “it’s right up your alley,” and Pottie ended up making the winning bids on both an amargasaurus and a parasaurolophus. The auction’s top prize, a Tyrannosaurus rex, sold for about $40,000, and Pottie said he spent about $20,000.
“When you got into the big ones, they were pricey. I think it even surprised the guys that ran the auction. People were bidding fast and they were bidding lots…” he said. “They were going fast and furious and for a lot of money, but we managed to luck out and get in on some of it.”
The day after the auction, Pottie went to Langley to retrieve his amargasaurus. He said the warehouse filled with the dinosaurs felt full of life and was “a kid’s dream.”
He’s now gotten the first dinosaur back on his property and bolted down. The amargasaurus, named Lance, weighs in at about 850 pounds and is nine feet tall and 31 feet long. It comes with a remote control, so Pottie has surprised people by peeking out his office window and turning the dino on when they get close.
He said it’s been “an absolute joy” to see children excited to see the dinosaur.
“You look out the window of the office and you see kids here all the time and we’re giving them free freezies and stuff and they come here and they’re playing with the dinosaur,” he said. “A lot of them know all about what it is and what period it [lived] in.”
Pottie said he intends to retrieve his other dinosaur this week, and said he also has leads on possibly buying velociraptors from a private seller in Richmond.
RELATED: T-Rex earns big bids at B.C. dino auction
RELATED: Crofton man’s quest for dinosaurs proves to be a costly venture
READ ALSO: Man who was taken to court by District of Lantzville has rezoning application rejected
READ ALSO: Lantzville’s Pottie ‘walking away’ from derelict hotel in Port Alberni after one week
editor@nanaimobulletin.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
