How London’s landmarks and streets will be invaded by the elephants of Mark Shand, brother of the Duchess of Cornwall
by Geoffrey Dean
When residents and visitors alike walk around central London on Monday morning, many will notice an overnight invasion of the capital. For, by then, an army of elephants - 258 to be precise - will have descended on the city's parks, squares and streets from their current base, a warehouse in Wandsworth. These, though, are not real but fibreglass elephants, each painstakingly painted by a host of different artists from all over the world.
Mark Shand with his elephants and sister
The two-metre high elephants, bolted to 700-kg concrete plinths to deter thieves and coated in an anti-graffiti resin, will stay in their new 'homes' until June 23 when they are moved to the Royal Chelsea Hospital. There, the most ornate 30, painted by leading artists and fashion designers such as Peter Beard, Marc Quinn, Sasha Jeffrey, Tommy Hilfiger, Matthew Williamson and Alice Temperley, will be auctioned at a special dinner on June 30. The remainder will be sold off on three days later, and it is hoped that more than £2m will be raised, money that is badly needed.
The whole splendid idea is the brainchild of the adventurer and author, Mark Shand, who rode his own elephant, Tara, across India in the late 1980s. Since then, and particularly in the last decade when the population of wild Asian elephants have fallen by 70%, numbers in the 13 countries that still have them have dropped so alarmingly that they are now officially endangered. Between 25-30,000 remain, approximately half of which are in India, but Shand fears that the species could become extinct within three decades.
Mark Shand & Tara crossing an Indian river
"Every day in India, an elephant is killed by man, and so are people by an elephant," Shand said. "With the
population increase there, there's been drastic erosion of elephants' natural habitat, forests, and their rites of passage between them. We've identified eighty of these routes, and the only way elephants will survive is if we can secure these links. But it's expensive - we've just had to spend £1m to establish one in Kerala that measures 6km by half a kilometre. Thirty families had to be moved, but they were delighted to be as they're now out of the elephants' path."
The logistics behind the so-called Elephant Parade, made possibly by £500,000 sponsorship, have been considerable. Although the tricky process of getting authorization from the relevant London authorities had to begin last autumn, Boris Johnson, the mayor, has been "unbelievably helpful" according to Shand. "We're a small team with a small budget who've survived on passion and the beautiful artwork on the elephants," Shand continued. "I really think London will go beserk when people see them. Each one is totally different."
Throughout Sunday night, the elephants will be stationed around London. There will be groups of them in places - 30 in Green Park for example - while one, named Claudia, will be towed around daily to a different location. Volunteers will canvass passers-by for signatures to petition government to act on the very real threat the Asian elephant faces.
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