Banksy’s Animal Series Continues at London Zoo

The ninth Banksy animal artwork in nine days appeared Monday morning at the London Zoo. The spray-painted, silhouetted scene shows a gorilla lifting the shutters to release a sea lion and birds from inside the zoo. The eyes of three other animals wait in the shadows for their turn to escape.

It all started with the seemingly random appearance of a mountain goat in southwest London. Then, from a stretching cat on a dilapidated billboard to a pair of pelicans on a fish-and-chip shop sign, a total of nine Banksy animal murals appeared across London for nine straight days. Yesterday, the series seemingly culminated on a roll-up shutter outside the ZSL London Zoo.

When zookeepers arrived at work early on Monday morning, they found Banksy’s signature silhouettes—and a growing crowd of spectators. Later that day, zoo employees covered the work with see-through plastic covering, following the swift removal and defacement of other murals in the series. Like the previous eight London animals, Banksy shared a picture of the gorilla scene with his 13 million followers on Instagram to confirm his authorship.

Banksy’s Artistic History with Animals

Banksy has long used animals—such as monkeys, birds, and rats—in his work to make political and social commentary. According to James Peak, presenter of the BBC’s The Banksy Story, the street artist is “very keen on animal welfare.” For the past nine days, thousands of in-person and online spectators have theorized that the London street art series has an ecological message.

In the latest BBC coverage of the Banksy animals, Peak explained that the artist’s multi-part works “often only really make sense backwards.” In this case, the nine murals may represent “this grand great escape that the gorilla has caused from London Zoo, which explains why there are all these animals over London this last week.” Perhaps Banksy simply intended to have a bit of fun. However, beneath the playful surface, the series may also have “a really serious kind of point to it—maybe that we’re not doing enough to ensure animals globally have enough natural space,” added Peak.

The nine-day lineup of London animals is not Banksy’s first daily street art series to dominate headlines. Back in 2013, Banksy made waves in New York City with Better Out Than In, an unofficial month-long residency during which he unveiled one new artwork every day in October. He documented the process on a dedicated website and Instagram account. In 2021, seemingly unrelated Banksy murals appeared across the Norfolk and Suffolk areas of England. After much speculation, the artist eventually claimed credit, naming the series A Great British Spraycation.