Animal Rescue with Marion Garnett

Dedicated animal expert Marion Garnett, founder of the Ealing Animal Charities Fair, continues her column

THE killing of Freya, the walrus, in Norway shocked many of us. Calmly going about her life on empty boats, she didn’t expect to be shot dead while sunbathing. Intolerant attitudes to wildlife are brought into sharp focus by two wonderful sculptural exhibitions currently on display in London.

The first exhibition, “Chimps Are Family”, is located on the south side of the river between London Bridge and Tower Bridge. Created by artists Gillie and Marc, it consists of 28 chimpanzees crafted in bronze.

The purpose of the sculptures is to illustrate the similarities between us and the animals with whom we share so much DNA.

Chimpanzees are our closest living relative, sharing about 99% of our DNA. The sculptures demonstrate eighteen different chimpanzee behaviours such as love, grief and tool use. For example, Rachel Anne highlights the ability of chimpanzees to communicate. Chimps use over thirty different vocalisations for different situations. Some of these are like our own such as a scream when scared. Nonverbal communication is also important.

But despite this amazing connection, humans are the biggest threat to chimps. Because of an increase in human population, habitat is being destroyed making it harder for the chimps to survive and putting a strain on food options.

Chimps are also targeted by bushmeat hunters and those who sell the young into the illegal pet trade.

In this exhibition Gillie and Marc hope that once people see how similar we are, they will want to help protect them. For details and a map of the trail go to lovethelast.com.

The second exhibition is at Paternoster Square, by St Paul’s Cathedral, and is also a bronze art installation by Gillie and Marc.

Called the Wild Table of Love, it’s a huge banquet table with guests at the table being six of the world’s most endangered animals. There are also two empty seats inviting us to join the gathering.

All the sculptures are designed to be interactive and for the public to get as close as they want.

They have the common theme that it’s possible for humans to share the world rather than just claiming it as our own. It’s really strange, but while I was there, I definitely saw Freya take one of those empty seats.

Finally, if we want another fabulous day out, on September 11 (11am-4pm), All Dogs Matter are inviting us to their Great Hampstead Bark Off on Parliament Hill Cricket Pitch, Hampstead Heath. There will be a celebrity-judged dog show and stalls. More details from alldogsmatter.co.uk

Join the Wild Table of Love, created by Gillie and Marc