Incredible life-size sculptures of elephants have arrived on the Bathurst Estate in Cirencester.

The sculptures have been placed in Cirencester Park in support of the CoExistence campaign which raises awareness about human-wildlife conflict.

The Asian elephants arrived on October 20 and were conceptualised by Mark Shand’s conservation charity Elephant Family, in collaboration with The Real Elephant Collective.

CoExistence is an environmental art campaign which will see 125 life-size elephant sculptures migrate through London’s Royal Parks in Summer 2021.

The exhibition will mark the occasion of the UN Biodiversity Conference scheduled for May 2021, which plans to negotiate a new global framework to safeguard all life on Earth.

The funds raised from the sales of these elephant sculptures will support innovative solutions to the growing conflict between humans and wildlife. In India, this is a conflict that on average ends in the death of one elephant and one person, every day.

Lady Bathurst personally oversaw the installation of the family on arrival. She said: "We are so privileged to have these gorgeous elephants living with us, and they really are exquisitely made, but they also carry an incredibly important message and I feel it's a wonderful way to deliver that message, in the surroundings of Broad Avenue, with The Militia Barracks as a backdrop, reminding us how we all live surrounded by nature in this modern and slightly chaotic world, and how we can meaningfully co-exist with that beauty, if we really think about it."

Flocks of endangered or biologically extinct native UK birds such as storks, cranes, white tailed eagles, corncrakes and great bustards, created by UK artists will also land on the herd to highlight rewilding efforts closer to home. In partnership with the farming community of Norfolk and Suffolk, the funds raised from the birds will go into WildEast an initiative which was recently celebrated on BBC One’s ‘Countryfile’.

Lady Bathurst added: "We must remember the vital role they play in raising awareness for the conservation work being done on a daily basis in their native country.

"It is heart breaking to think of the conflict caused by the ever-growing presence of humans and their needs, with the inevitable result of the shrinking of the natural habitat. And because of the human spread and intervention, the serious threat to their long-term survival is very real, so I hope very much we can all work together to change that."