The Great Big Rhino auction

A grand charity auction will take place at the Riviera International Conference Centre in Torquay on Thursday 3rd November. For sale? 39 life-size painted rhino figures.

The original, one-off artworks will be raising money to help Critically Endangered wild rhinos in South East Asia.

In 2013, the Paignton Zoo Great Gorillas Project charity auction raised £100,000 when 27 large gorillas and two of their smaller cousins went under the hammer. Charities that benefitted included a conservation project working the Critically Endangered Cross River gorilla in Nigeria.

The target for The Great Big Rhino auction night is £130,000. Organiser Pippa Craddock: “This is the point at which a summer of rhino fun turns into a very serious matter. How much we can help rhino conservation on the ground in South East Asia hinges on the success of the auction.”

The Trail was a dazzling free public art exhibition of 40 life-size painted rhinos. They were scattered around the streets, parks and open spaces of Exeter and the English Riviera.

For information about how to attend the auction, contact Jenny Paton at Paignton Zoo on jenny.paton@paigntonzoo.org.uk or 01803 697509 or go to http://www.greatbigrhinos.org.uk/auction

Three of the sculptures - Hope, Precious and George – are not being auctioned. The surplus from the project will be used by Paignton Zoo to support Javan and Sumatran rhino conservation via Save the Rhino International.