Sculptor Jens Galschiøt is going to have to search for his 800-kilo, three metre statue of an overweight goddess Justitia riding piggyback on an African, which has disappeared from its temporary position next to The Little Mermaid at Langelinie in Copenhagen.

Sculpted in steel, bronze and copper, the statue was put in place a week ago and was due to remain there as a statement on the climate debate during the COP15 Climate Summit.

The statue depicts an obese goddess Justitia – symbolising the West - riding piggy-back on a thin African man and is called ‘Survival of the Fattest’ and is supposed to symbolise what is seen as the hypocrisy of the climate debate.

“I know it’s provocative to put up a fat lady next to the national symbol of the Little Mermaid in the Øresund, but it’ll only be there for a month or so,” Galshiøtt says, adding he hopes that the statue has just been toppled over into the water and can be raised again.

At the same time Galschiøtt guarantees that Justitia’s disappearance is not a media stunt.

“We’d rather have the sculpture standing there. It was good enough (as a statement) as it was,” says Galschiøtt, who is on his way to Copenhagen to try to rein in his wayward statue.