Elephant Parade London: #46 Bobby, #135 Gerald

There always has to be one. As part of the Elephant Parade which recently took place in London, six of the 258 fibre glass elephants were placed in Selfridges department store on Oxford Street. One of these six elephants was #135 Gerald, a bright blue elephant with a leaf pattern. The artist, Jonathan Yeo, said he was inspired by "an elephant walking through a park on a sunny Autumn day". So far, so uncontroversial. But after a few days on display, Gerald was removed from public viewing after apparent complaints that his "leaves" were in fact of a more adult nature.



After a prolonged absence from public view, and after a Facebook group was set up to "Free Gerald", he eventually was allowed to be seen by the public at the Elephant Family HQ, before finally being relocated to Chinawhite nightclub.

Having seen Gerald when he was at the Elephant Family HQ, I have to say that all the "controversy" seems to have been a lot of fuss about nothing. Even being aware of what was on Gerald's "leaves" I wouldn't say it was immediately obvious, and certainly wasn't the first thing you notice when looking at him. Still, at least Gerald didn't end up hidden from the public eye forever.

Please take a minute to sign the petition to help save the Asian elephant over at the Elephant Family website.