Maono

Maono was decorated by EYECAN’s artists as part of an exciting community project to celebrate Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust’s 60^th Anniversary.

The project, Go Wild Gorillas is a celebration of the remarkable work achieved at Jersey Zoo and in the wild to protect threatened species from extinction. Educating the next generation and inspiring them to be better connected to nature is pivotal to Durrell’s mission to significantly improve the fortunes of threatened wildlife around the world.

Gorillas are majestic, powerful yet gentle animals, and one of our closest living relatives. But they are in peril.

Gorillas in the wild have been pushed to the brink of extinction due to habitat loss, hunting, wildlife trade and the spread of infectious disease. Jersey Zoo has been home to these majestic apes for 60 years, successfully breeding them and training conservationists to protect these gentle giants.

The young gorilla trail, featuring many eye-catching smaller gorilla sculptures are displayed throughout the Island to help launch fundraising efforts to build a new indoor gorilla house for Badongo, our local silverback and his family. On the 27th July the main Gorilla trail will open. Brightly coloured, artist imagined, life-size gorilla sculptures will be placed across the island and will lead people on a trail of discovery, not only to see the gorillas themselves, but the nature in which they are placed.

 

Sight impaired artists determined the sculpture’s theme and colour. They painted the base and prepared templates of leaves and small creatures for Day Centre members to decorate . After photocopying, these were glued to the base before the sculpture was varnished. The gorilla was named Maono – Swahili for Vision.

Staff at Anderson’s DIY shop in Quennevais created a fabulous window display featuring Maono amongst jungle foliage.  EYECAN artists visited him recently and thanked Andersons for making Maono feel so at home in their store.