Jaguar Parade – Magnificent Jaguars taking over Gotham streets
New York has a thing for animal sculptures that I have econountered on the streets of Manhattan. The latest is an open air Public Art exhibit called Jaguar Parade NYC 2022, which has taken over the City with decorated jaguar statues. In the last week I have been encountering magnificent and imposing jaguars that have been painted by various artists, one of whom I had a chance encounter with – Pedro Silva – earlier this year as you can read about here.
Jaguars are a ‘Near Threatened’ species, but there is no shortage of them in the concrete jungle we call Manhattan this fall! As the Jaguar Parade website explains, “Jaguars exist in 18 countries in Latin America, from Mexico to Argentina. Despite this broad range, jaguars have been eradicated in nearly half of their historic range. The species is threatened by loss and fragmentation of jaguar habitats, conflict with people due to the real or perceived threat posed to livestock, and overhunting of the jaguar’s prey. Conserving the jaguar means conserving tropical forests, wetlands, and other environments that are crucial to the wellbeing of humans and countless other species.“
There are 36 jaguars roaming the streets of New York these days for the Jaguar Parade NYC 2022. Some have even made it to the UN General Assembly! Here are the ones I have encountered.
At the MetLife building:
At Port Authority, where they are livening up a dreary bus station –
At the Bank of America Tower:
At the Standard Chartered Building
At Tavern on the Green in Central Park. The black and white one on the right side is by Pedro Silva, who has drawn a portrait of me as well!
And the last set I have encountered is at the Central Park Zoo. The eagles you see behind a couple of the jaguars are a set of 8 eagles that used be on a bridge that was demolished, and found their way to the Central Park Zoo –
This last one at the Central Park Zoo is really cool as the cut on the side is a stringed instrument that can actually be played! The kids at the zoo were loving it –
All in all it has been great to run into these jaguars all over New York City, while raising awareness for their conservation efforts. All these statues are going to be auctioned off to raise funds for jaguar conservation efforts.
#gottalovenewyork
