A vandal made one of Penn State's favorite Kodak photo spots less than picture perfect last week.

Despite the magnitude of Penn State pride and mascot's adoration, the Nittany Lion Shrine endured a rare incident of vandalism last week.

Someone carved the word "way" into the back of the lion shrine Wednesday. The vandalism was reported days later by a visitor. Penn State police supervisor William Moerschbacher said police do not know what "way" means, but immediately contacted the Office of Physical Plant to care for the injured lion.

Paul Ruskin, OPP spokesman, said the office has expert tradesmen in case of incidents such as this, particularly when the sacred Penn State shrine is damaged.

"We have techniques to keep the Lion in tip-top shape, specifically cleaning materials, sanding, specialized silicon and other repairing techniques," Ruskin said.

Ruskin said that although the vandalism of the shrine is exceptionally low, it is not unheard of. Two years ago, the ears of the Lion were knocked off and experts were called in to reshape the ears. Within hours of the incident however, Ruskin said the lion was back to normal, ears in place.

"It's unfortunate that these things happen, but it's a good opportunity to mention that there are thousands of visitors and the amount of vandalism is small compared to the scale of the university," Ruskin said.

"We can compliment Penn State visitors and the good public spirit that this isn't a major problem."

Vandalism of the Penn State artifact, however, has been a part of Penn State history. The Lion was used to incite school spirit at a time when there was a spotty amount of interest in Penn State pride.

According to the Penn State Alumni Association Web site (www.alumni.psu.edu), Sue Paterno, wife of football coach Joe Paterno, once smothered the Shrine with an orange water-based paint to provoke school spirit before a Homecoming football game against Syracuse University.

Since then, Lion Ambassadors have protected the Lion on Homecoming eve, even though the likelihood of vandalism is slim.

President of the Lion Ambassadors, Amol Dhargalkar (senior-chemical engineering and economics) said although the Lion's defacement is upsetting, it has been done in a less harmful manner to inflate school spirit.

"It was done a few years ago to charge teams up" prior to athletic events, Dhargalkar said.

Although vandalizing the Lion in whatever way is seen more as a crime than as an act to trigger university pride, Ruskin said students and visitors respect the sculpture as a part of Penn State history.

"The Lion Shrine has a great deal of respect, and most people respect it enough not to vandalize it," Ruskin said.