A 115-million-year-old dinosaur footprint has been vandalised at a Victorian park.

Rangers discovered vandals had taken a hammer to the theropod footprint, left in its original place at Bunurong Marine Park at Inverloch, last week.

The site is one of only a handful of polar dinosaur sites in the world, which includes the footprint found in 2006.

Palaeontologists made a silicon rubber mould, deciding to leave the print in the rock so visitors could have the thrill of seeing it in its natural state.

It represents a moment frozen in time when a meat-eating dinosaur stood on that spot and left an impression.

Bunurong Environment Centre Education Officer Mike Cleeland discovered the damage, describing it as a “callous act of vandalism”.

“The thrill of seeing a real dinosaur footprint has been diminished.

“Fortunately, I was able to retrieve some of the broken pieces of the footprint and hopefully the technicians at Museum Victoria may be able to restore the footprint to some degree.”

Painted by Andrew Plant/Parks Victoria. A medium-sized theropod like the dinosaur which left the footprint vandalized at Parks Victoria. 

Images: Parks Victoria