Some works have even been removed due to relentless vandalism.

Remember the whimsical sculpture of the little men reading as they ascended a staircase? The $80,000 On The Staircase work was vandalised so many times - six at last count - it had to be shifted out of Petrie Plaza to a safer home at Gorman House Arts Centre.

Then there was the poor Stepping Out (Lady in Pearls) sculpture which was brazenly stolen from the Hughes shops in May, 2016.

The $60,000 statue was unceremoniously cut off at the knees. She might have been melted down for the metal or ended up in someone's garden. Or it could have been sheer vandalism. Nobody knows. The work was never recovered, the government commissioning a replacement work at a cost of $100,000.

Late last year, one of Canberra's most popular examples of public art - The Other Side of Midnight in Civic - was also defaced. Someone drew a moustache and beard on the cherubic face of the painted doll by Melbourne artist Anne Ross. It was quickly cleaned it up.

In 1995, a sculpture by Greg Taylor of a nude Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip sitting on a bench beside Lake Burley Griffin, Down by the Lake With Liz and Phil, attracted international headlines when the Queen's head was removed by a person or persons unknown. Then the Duke's head was attacked.

The artist conceded defeat, removing the sculpture. "They've won," he told The Canberra Times back in 1995.

A little further afield, remember when a herd of fibreglass zebras made by Canberra artists Alan and Julie Aston and positioned in Lake George in 2010 were attacked and had to be removed?

While all these examples have been high-profile, artsACT maintains "overall there is minimal intentional damage to ACT public artworks".

(Big Swoop is managed by the City Renewal Authority which is working with the artist Yanni Pounartzis to see how the work can be repaired and protected.)

artsACT says in the last year, two works in its portfolio have been damaged or vandalised - Ethos in Civic Square and The Ability to Imagine, formerly located at the entrance to Belconnen Community Health Centre. The cost of repairing the artworks has been put at $27,000.

In a surprise to no one, artsACT says: "Damage to artworks mostly has occurred in areas where alcohol is consumed at night."

"Mitigation measures have involved moving the artworks to areas that have improved security and passive surveillance," artsACT says.

It cites On the Staircase as one artwork that was moved due to vandalism. And says the ACT Memorial on London Circuit was fundamentally changed due to repeated vandalism. Its original glass sphere had to be replaced with stone due to ongoing malicious damage.

Big Swoop is in Garema Place, slap-bang in Canberra's rowdier night-time scene. But moving the sculpture would be the poorer option. It was created through a $50,000 "placemaking grant" from the City Renewal Authority. The grant was for projects which, among other things, "strengthen our community's connection to these public places and encourage habitual visitation".

The whole point was to celebrate Garema Place. To encourage people to visit the city. Swoop even has a whole backstory of growing up there and stealing chips from Chicken Gourmet. It's sad that such a wonderful addition to Canberra's urban scene can't just be enjoyed respectfully.