The Travelling Herd is on its way!

The travelling elephant herd has started its journey!

A travelling herd of 26 Elephant Sculptures have started their journey from the Netherlands to Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm.

26 life size baby elephant sculptures have begun their 400-mile journey from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, North Somerset. Carefully loaded on to a lorry the travelling herd is due to arrive at the Zoo later in the week.

The sculptures are part of Elephant Parade® which combines art, conservation, education and of course lots of fun. The herd of hand painted Elephants will form a trail over the 100 acres of beautiful North Somerset countryside for visitors to explore and discover. The trail, which is included in zoo admission, will be open to visitors from 1st July to 31st August 2022.

The trail aims to raise funds for global conservation efforts and has therefore offered sponsorship opportunities to local businesses to become a trail or individual elephant sponsor. The money raised from sponsorship will be donated to our nominated conservation charities. So far, the total raised is over £9,000! In addition to the funds raised through sponsorship; the zoo has also created a souvenir brochure with 50% of the profits going directly to the three conservation charities. These funds will help support animals around the world for years to come.

“When asked if we would like to sponsor an Elephant for the up and coming Parade, we jumped at the chance. Not only do we feel the work Noah’s Ark is doing to be invaluable, but for Voodoo Designworks to be involved in helping to raise over £9,000 for conservation charities is just amazing.

It is an absolute pleasure to be working alongside Rhian and the creative department within the Zoo, never will you meet a more passionate and creatively caring team.” Said Tony Baxter, Managing Director of Voodoo Designworks.

Each sculpture has been created by local and international artists to raise awareness of the need for global elephant conservation. The herd of 26 elephants visiting Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm this summer has been curated to also support our zoo ethos with conservation, sustainability and inclusive messages being shared by each of the incredible designs.

The Education Team also reached out to school aged children with a huge Elephant Parade® competition. The top prizes included a free school trip for up to 100 children, Elephant Adoption packs and limited-edition Top Trumps packs. The competition has been a huge success has engaged over 500 children in conservation issues. Each of the children’s unique designs will be displayed in the Elephant House at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm for the duration of the parade.

“We have been so impressed by the creativity and conservation themes children have included in their Elephant Parade® designs. It was very difficult for the team to choose the winners from more than 500 entries. We aimed to inspire local children about elephants and global conservation efforts; with the hope that some of the children involved will come and see the elephants here at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm as well as their own designs displayed in the Elephant House! We are looking forward to greeting the winner and their school when they book their free school visit.” Said Paula Takle, Education Lead at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm.

Whilst providing an exciting activity for day visitors to the zoo, the installation carries a strong conservation message to highlight the plight of wild elephants and explain the important work of the social enterprise Elephant Parade. The organisation was started by two men with a passion for helping nature's biggest land mammal. Father and son Marc and Mike Spits were moved by the emotional story of a 7 month old Asian elephant called Mosha they met in Thailand who had survived standing on a land mine, but lost her right leg. Mosha was made a special prosthetic leg which has made daily life much easier for her. Today, The Friends of the Asian Elephant Hospital is still the home of Mosha in Lampang, Thailand.

René de Wit, Managing Director at Elephant Parade: “After visiting so many great cities around the world, Elephant Parade is thrilled to arrive in Bristol at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm. And we hope our vibrant art pieces will give the visitors – young and old - a reason to smile, meet friends and have a great day.”

Visit the zoo between 1st July and 31st August 2022 to take part in the trail and find out more about Mosha and the conservation of Elephants around the world.