Banksy unveils rhino as eighth artwork in animal-themed series across London

A rhinoceros climbing a Nissan Micra with a traffic cone on its bonnet is the latest in a series of animal-themed murals to pop up in London.

The elusive street artist known as Banksy unveiled the piece in Charlton, an area in London’s south-east, on Monday.

The rhino was later defaced by a man wearing a black balaclava, who spray painted a tag over its belly.

The piece is the eighth in a daily series by the artist, which has featured pelicans raiding fish from a chip shop’s sign, monkeys swinging from an overpass and a goat balancing on a pillar.

On Sunday, the artist claimed another artwork depicting a school of piranhas, which appeared on a police box near the capital’s Central Criminal Court, known as the Old Bailey.

But just a day later, the artwork had been moved to a “safe location”.

A spokesperson for the City of London Corporation said the department was looking at options to preserve the piece.

“We have moved the artwork to Guildhall Yard to ensure it is properly protected and open for the public to view safely,” the statement said.

“A permanent home for the piece will be decided in due course.”

The fish tank wasn’t the first in Banksy’s animal series to be removed.

A howling wolf on a satellite dish in Peckham was stolen from its rooftop by two men with a ladder just hours after the artist confirmed authorship on Thursday.

According to the BBC, Banksy’s press team has “no knowledge as to the dish’s current whereabouts” and the artist does not endorse the theft.

And days later, crowds booed as a stretching cat on an empty Cricklewood billboard was dismantled by three men who said they had been hired by a contracting company to take it down for safety reasons.

The sign was scheduled to be taken down on Monday but the date was brought forward when Banksy’s artwork appeared, in case someone “rips it down and leaves it unsafe”, the men said. 

Banksy began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol, England, and has become one of the world’s best-known artists.

His work has sold for millions of dollars at auction, and past murals on outdoor sites have often been stolen or removed by building owners soon after going up.

ABC with AP