A historical building in the US has become the subject of an international dispute after it was swept away to a Canadian island during a blizzard.

McCurdy’s Smokehouse in Lubec, Maine, is the last traditional herring facility in the US and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

But last week’s “bomb cyclone” tore one of the five buildings from its pylons and floated it to a Canadian island.

Its remains are in a tug-of-war between scavengers and preservationists.
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Rachel Rubeor, president of Lubec Landmarks, a nonprofit organisation that works to preserve the smokehouse, told the Bangor Daily News Canadian officials refuse to let her team salvage the building’s remains, until the legal claims by Canadian scavengers can be sorted out.

“The bureaucratic nonsense is hampering us bigtime,” she said. “Let’s face it. It’s not like we’re terrorists or anything.”

Large portions of the building’s roof, flooring, fireplace, and side walls survived the storm.

But Canadian scavengers have begun cutting off parts of the structure with chainsaws, Ms Rubeor said.

Ms Rubeor said she hopes to spread out the remains among the other four McCurdy’s buildings.

A representative for New Brunswick energy and resources could not be reached.