A Banksy artwork has appeared at the London zoo, depicting a gorilla letting a seal and several birds escape while the eyes of three other animals peer outside.
The black stencil image on the security shutters at the zoo is the ninth animal-themed work claimed by the popular street artist in nine days (like prior murals, a picture of the gorilla was shared with his 13 million Instagram followers).
The menagerie of animals at the London Zoo follows a mountain goat perched precariously on a wall buttress, followed by a pair of elephants, three swinging monkeys, a howling wolf, two pelicans eating fish, a big cat mid-stretch, a school of fish, and a rhino mounting a car at various points around the city. The locations have included the sides of buildings, a fish and chip shop sign, a police box, and the bridge of a subway station.
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Two of the nine artworks are no longer viewable by the public. Photographs show the image of the howling wolf, painted on a satellite dish, was allegedly stolen by three hooded men in broad daylight on August 8. The big cat mid-stretch spray-painted on a bare sheet of plywood for billboards was removed by a contractor to reduce the likelihood of theft.
Banksy’s murals and artworks have been posted on Instagram without captions, titles or other information, prompting online speculation about their significance. On August 10, The Guardian reported that the artist’s support organization, Pest Control Office, found all the theorizing about the meaning of each new image “way too involved” and that the artist’s simple vision was to cheer up the public during a bleak period.
“Banksy’s hope, it is understood, is that the uplifting works cheer people with a moment of unexpected amusement, as well as to gently underline the human capacity for creative play, rather than for destruction and negativity,” wrote Vanessa Thorpe, the Guardian‘s arts and media correspondent.