The animals went into the West End, not quite two by two, from the direction of Soho Square. Monkeys ran ahead, gorillas bounded behind and bringing up the rear were a pair of handsome, ambling giraffes. Down Greek Street they marched, past pubs and cafes, resulting in an actual zebra crossing as the pack moved across Cambridge Circus, passing in front of bemused drivers, and on through lanes of shoppers in Covent Garden.
This was central London on late Friday afternoon: streets overrun not by tourists but by The Herds, a staggeringly ambitious public art project. In April, a menagerie of lifesize puppet animals began a 20,000km route from the Congo Basin to the Arctic Circle, signifying the displacement of animals and humans caused by the climate crisis. This weekend they are in London; next week they travel north for the Manchester international festival. I spent an hour following the herd on their journey from Soho to Somerset House, during which the puppets either joined in a series of performances – or watched them along with the rest of us.
