Banksy London Zoo mural offers clue to why wild animals have been appearing all over city

LONDON (AP) — Workers arriving at the London Zoo early Tuesday were surprised to discover an unexpected exhibit that suggested the animals were being set free.

A mural by elusive street artist Banksy showed a gorilla holding up the entrance gate as birds took flight and a sea lion waddled away. Three sets of eyes peered out from the darkness inside.

The painting may explain why Bansky-created creatures — from a mountain goat perched on a building buttress to piranhas circling a police guard post to a rhinoceros mounting a car — have been showing up in the most unlikely places around London for nine straight days.

Each of the works posted on Banksy's Instagram page have included a London Zoo hashtag, said Dan Simmonds, animal operations manager at the zoo. But he didn't imagine the artist would decorate the zoo's own doorway.

“Part of the enigma of Banksy is obviously that everything is a surprise,” Simmonds said. “We certainly didn’t expect it was actually going to happen right here, on one of our huge admission shutters. But coming in and seeing it, kind of realized that, yeah, we’re so lucky.”

Simmonds said he discovered the mural around 6:30 a.m. when he arrived to begin feeding the hungry animals. Cyclists who circle Regent's Park, where the zoo is located, every morning were already posing for selfies.

The roll-down shutter was closed all day to show off the work. It's the busy season for the zoo, but the renowned street artist quickly draws his own followers and crowds show up to view it and snap photos.

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

His paintings and installations sell for millions of dollars at auction and have drawn thieves and vandals. The latest group of works is no exception and workers at the zoo shielded it later in the day with a see-through plastic covering.

The rhino that appeared Monday was tagged with graffiti. A wolf silhouette on a roof-mounted satellite dish — appearing to howl at the moon — was stolen hours after word got out about the artwork last week.

A big cat, stretching out on the back of a dilapidated billboard, was removed within hours by three men who said they had been hired to take it down for safety reasons.

The police sentry box that looked like a fish tank was removed from near the Old Bailey courthouse to the City of London corporate offices to protect it, a spokesperson said. It will eventually be placed where it can be viewed by the public.

It was not clear if the zoo mural would be the final in the series.

Simmonds said the zoo was honored Banksy had chosen it for one of his canvases. He was particularly excited to see the big ape because he had once been the gorilla keeper.

He said he's assuming the primate in the mural is an endangered western lowland gorilla, the subspecies they have at the zoo. Simmonds identified one of the birds as possibly being a macaw and another critter as a bat.

“As for the eyes, who knows, maybe some cats peering out,” he said. “That’s the beauty of it. Literally only Banksy will know.”

Associated Press journalist Hilary Fox contributed.

People remove a new artwork by Banksy, depicting a howling wolf painted on a satellite dish that was placed on a shop roof in Peckham, south London, Thursday Aug. 8, 2024. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

Contractors begin to dismantle a billboard with the new Banksy artwork depicting a stretching cat in Cricklewood, north-west London, Saturday, August 10, 2024. (Jordan Reynolds/PA via AP)

A covered-face person removes a new artwork by Banksy, depicting a howling wolf painted on a satellite dish that was placed on a shop roof in Peckham, south London, Thursday Aug. 8, 2024. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

People take pictures of a new mural by elusive street artist Banksy at the London Zoo, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024, in London. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)

A man takes a selfie by a new design of swimming fish by Banksy, which appeared on a police box in the City of London is cordoned off, in London, Monday Aug. 12, 2024. (Emily Pennink/PA via AP)

A new design of swimming fish by Banksy, which appeared on a police box in the City of London is cordoned off, in London, Monday Aug. 12, 2024. (Emily Pennink/PA via AP)

A man photographs a new artwork unveiled by Banksy, depicting a rhinoceros which looks as though it is climbing on top of a car, the eighth artwork in his animal-themed collection, on Westmoor Street in Charlton, south east London, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. (Lucy North/PA via AP)

The new artwork unveiled by Banksy at London Zoo, depicting a gorilla lifting up a shutter at the entrance allowing a number of birds to escape, while the eyes of other animals can be seen lurking in the darkness, the ninth artwork in his animal-themed collection, in London, Tuesday Aug. 13, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)

A new mural by elusive street artist Banksy is seen at the London Zoo, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024, in London. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)

Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with 140 rockets Friday, a day after the militant group’s leader vowed to retaliate against Israel for a mass bombing attack, the Israeli military and the militant group said.

Israel’s military said the rockets came in three waves Friday afternoon targeting sites along the ravaged border with Lebanon.

In Gaza, Palestinian authorities said 15 people were killed overnight in multiple Israeli attacks.

An airstrike early Friday morning in Gaza City hit a family home, killing six people including an unknown number of children, Gaza’s Civil Defense said. Another person was killed in Gaza City when a strike hit a group of people on a street.

Israel maintains it only targets militants and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas. The military, which rarely comments on individual strikes, had no immediate comment.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children.

Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Meanwhile, the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah is promising to retaliate for deadly attacks on its communication devices after Israel’s defense minister announced a “new phase” of the war. Fears are increasing that 11 months of exchanges of fire between the two sides will escalate into all-out war.

Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. They have come close to a full-blown war on several occasions.

Here's the latest:

Palestinian authorities say 15 people were killed overnight in the Gaza Strip in multiple Israeli attacks.

An airstrike early Friday morning in Gaza City hit a family home, killing six people including an unknown number of children, Gaza’s Civil Defense said. Another person was killed in Gaza City when a strike hit a group of people on a street.

In Beit Hanoun, north of Gaza City, another person was killed and several others injured when a vehicle was hit by an Israeli strike, the Civil Defense said.

Late Thursday, six more people were killed in a strike that hit a home in the center of Gaza City, while another was killed in Beit Lahya, north of Gaza City.

Israel maintains it only targets militants and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas. The military, which rarely comments on individual strikes, had no immediate comment.

The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.

BAGHDAD — A leader of an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia was killed Friday in a strike in Syria, a war monitor and a militia official said.

Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah group — which is different from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah — said in a statement that Abu Haidar al-Khafaji was killed “while performing his duties as a security advisor in Damascus.”

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had earlier reported that a leader in Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah group was killed and another person injured in a drone strike on the car they were traveling in on the road to the Damascus airport.

An official with an Iraqi militia confirmed that a car carrying a group of militia members was struck in Damascus, killing one person and injuring three others. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

There was no comment from Israeli officials on the strike. Israel frequently strikes Iranian and Iran-linked groups in Syria but rarely acknowledges the strikes.

Tensions have heightened in the region following a wave of apparently remotely detonated explosions in Lebanon targeting pagers and walkie talkies belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah. The attacks, widely blamed on Israel, which has not commented on them, killed at least 37 people - including two children - and wounded about 3,000.

— By Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad

BEIRUT — Israel’s military killed two Hezbollah members who were planting explosives along the border over the weekend, Israel’s military and an official with a Lebanese group said.

The official with a Lebanese group said the two members of the militant group were killed Sunday and their bodies were taken by Israeli troops because they were too close to the fence along the tense frontier. The official spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

On Thursday, Israel’s military released a video it said was taken by one of the fighters showing the militants coming under fire. The military said that the two fighters were killed by Israeli troops as they tried to plant an improvised explosive device near a military post.

In the days following the tense border interaction, thousands of devices exploded in different parts of Lebanon and Syria, killing 37 people and wounding around 3,000 others. The attack was blamed on Israel, and many of those killed or injured were members of Hezbollah.

Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report.

Hezbollah members carry the coffin of their comrade who was killed when a handheld device exploded, during a funeral procession in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Right-wing Israelis with relatives held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and their supporters, rally against a hostage deal, in Jerusalem, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. The placard in Hebrew reads: " To bathe in his blood." (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Houses are engulfed in fire as the Israeli army raided the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Palestinians duck for cover as the Israeli army raided the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya on Thursday, Sept.19, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

FILE - Hezbollah fighters carry one of the coffins of four fallen comrades who were killed Tuesday after their handheld pagers exploded, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)