Elephant Parade is coming to Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm

Elephant Parade® is coming to Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm this summer. From 1 July to 31 August the zoo will be hosting a herd of 26 hand painted unique Elephant sculptures.  The herd is led by ‘Zebra Beats’ a fantastic Elephant covered in rainbow zebra stripes. The trail will be included within general zoo admission with the zoo opening between 10:30-17:00 daily. 

Elephant Parade® combines art, conservation, education and of course lots of fun. The herd of 26 decorative Elephants will form a trail over the 100 acres of beautiful North Somerset countryside for visitors to explore and discover. 

“We are excited to welcome this bright and colourful herd of Elephant sculptures to Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm this summer. Elephant Parade is the perfect activity for a family day out, but it is also an opportunity to educate our visitors about Elephants and the conservation of these incredible mammals. We are incredibly proud to be hosting these sculptures and to assist Elephant Parade in its mission to raise awareness for Elephant conservation.” Rhian, Customer Experience and Events Coordinator.

Noah’s Ark is offering sponsorship opportunities for businesses to become a trail or individual elephant sponsor. The money raised will be donated to our nominated conservation charity.

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 the zoo’s ethos with conservation, sustainability and inclusive messages being shared by each of the incredible designs. 

Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm is home to African bull Elephants and is part of the EEP (European Endangered Species Programme). By housing this species in a male only group, Noah’s Ark is helping the EEP to achieve its overall goal of creating sustainable genetic populations of these species across European zoos.  In the wild, males will leave their family once they reach adolescence. They will then go off to breed with unrelated females, and then group together with other males to form a bachelor herd. To help this natural behaviour, breeding herds of elephants in zoos will have just one breeding male living with females. This is why bachelor groups are needed, to provide homes for males who are not yet ready to breed, with the aim for them to one day become fathers themselves and contribute to their breeding programme.

“We are very proud to have the UK’s only African Elephant bull facility here at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm. We are excited to welcome the Elephant Sculptures to help us spread the important conservation message of these incredible animals” said Tom, Elephant Section Lead Keeper.

Whilst providing a popular 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. The work of the Spits resulted in the first exhibition in Rotterdam in 2007 and the support of NGOs Elephant Family and Friends of the Asian Elephant in a range of elephant conservation projects. 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 1 July and 31 August 2022 to take part in the trail and find out more about Mosha and the conservation of Elephants around the world.