Elephants in the Castle

by Lauren Rosenfeld

The elephant parade has hit London, with one of the herd even gracing Elephant and Castle with its presence.

They are part of The London Elephant Parade, an outdoor art exhibition that is trying to "shine a multi-coloured spotlight" onto the crisis faced by the endangered Asian elephant for Elephant Family - the only charity in the UK solely dedicated to saving the Asian elephant from extinction.

In total, there are 250 life-sized baby elephants across the capital, designed by artists from all over London, with every model having a unique design.

The elephants will remain on the streets of London until the end of June, when they will be auctioned off to hopefully raise a figure close to £2 million to protect the endangered species.

New York and Milan

Elephant Parades have already been held in Antwerp and Rotterdam, and will then move onto New York and Milan. The project has drawn comparisons to the Cow Parade, held in London in 2002 which helped raise £350,000 for Childline.

There are approximately 28 elephants on show in SE1, with most of them standing alongside the river, between the Royal Festival Hall and Tower Bridge.

The project aims to benefit 20 conservation charities and the elephants are already for sale by auction online.

An Elephant Family spokeswoman said: "The elephants will appear overnight to cheer London up and raise some vital funds."

For more information, visit the website.