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."

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Associated Press journalist Hilary Fox contributed.