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The snarling Tyrannosaurus rex in front of the McDonald鈥檚 at Tanque Verde and Grant isn鈥檛 going anywhere, according to Lizzeth Alvarez, area supervisor for Dias Management Inc., which owns the bustling franchise.

鈥淎bsolutely not,鈥� Alvarez said. 鈥淧eople really seem to like it. It鈥檚 a landmark really.鈥�

Concern for the life-size replica cropped up earlier this month when a post targeting the T. rex on Tanque Verde showed up on the Facebook page of a group called Christians Against Dinosaurs.

According to the page 鈥� as well as the group鈥檚 website and occasional YouTube videos 鈥� CAD is dedicated to the belief that dinosaurs never existed at all but are, in fact, a scam perpetrated by scientists, possibly as part of some liberal plot against religion.

There鈥檚 nothing factual about any of this, of course. It flies in the face of mountains of fossil evidence collected, studied and cataloged since the 17th century.

On the other hand, it is on the internet. And since Aug. 15, so, too, is the following post on the Christians Against Dinosaurs Facebook page:

鈥淧lease help! This McDonald鈥檚 has this dinosaur and refuse to remove it! This is in Tucson, Arizona. Call the manager and demand the removal of this blasphemy!鈥�

The post from a CAD page member named Josh Brown then gives the address and phone number for the offending burger joint.

It can be hard sometimes to separate the faithful from the frauds on social media sites, and this seems doubly true in the case of Christians Against Dinosaurs. Though there seems to be an underlying earnestness to CAD鈥檚 website, the majority of people posting on its Facebook page seem to be there to get into arguments, spectate or mock the whole thing.

Attempts to reach those in charge of Christians Against Dinosaurs were unsuccessful. According to several articles written about the group since it first gained fame about five years ago, the movement has no clear leadership or agenda beyond trying to contradict centuries of science, including literal tons of actual, physical specimens.

If taking down fiberglass replicas of dinosaurs is something the group actually endorses, it鈥檚 not clear from its messaging.

But CAD poster Josh Brown insists he isn鈥檛 joking around. Reached through his Facebook page Tuesday night, he said he lives and works in Tucson, and he doesn鈥檛 see anything funny about 鈥渓ying to our children.鈥�

鈥淚t seems to me that every dinosaur story and display or dinosaur themed event is furthering the myth that the Earth is much older than the Bible says it is,鈥� Brown said via Facebook Messenger. 鈥淵es, the dinosaur should go unless they鈥檙e willing to compromise with a plaque of some kind stating that it鈥檚 a fictional character.鈥�

Dias Management owns 18 McDonald鈥檚 restaurants in Arizona, 15 of them in the Tucson area.

Alvarez said staff members at the Tanque Verde location first found out about the possible dinosaur dispute from a few customers who mentioned the post or called in to ask if it was for real.

Some employees wondered if there would be a protest of some kind in front of the restaurant, but Alvarez said she wasn鈥檛 aware of anyone even calling in to complain about the dinosaur so far, though several people on Facebook claimed they did.

The T. rex dates to when the restaurant first opened in 1994 鈥� part of an all-around dinosaur theme aimed squarely at kids and inspired by the wild success of the first 鈥淛urassic Park鈥� movie.

Alvarez said the restaurant鈥檚 owners have taken to dressing their dino up in different holiday costumes throughout the year. In early May, she said, the statue 鈥済ot all this extra attention鈥� when they covered its nose and mouth with a giant mask to promote pandemic safety.

Most Facebook users responded to Brown鈥檚 call to (tiny?) arms with jokes or messages of support for the Tanque Verde T. rex.

Since he posted about the statue, Brown said he鈥檚 been harassed and threatened online. Someone even tried to hack into his personal Facebook account.

He said a lot of the comments directed his way have come from 鈥減eople who wanted to save the dinosaur or to message me personally and spew insults and threats.鈥�

In a later post to the CAD community, Brown took aim at a different drive-thru dinosaur, this one in front of the McDonald鈥檚 off I-10 in Benson. He called it a 鈥渃onduit of lies and dinoporn that are corrupting our children鈥檚 minds.鈥�

Sometime after that, Christians Against Dinosaurs kicked him off its page.