Animals Where They Don’t Belong (9 Photos)

November 7, 2026

By Vidar

Somebody let the animals out

A cow grazing on a strip of sidewalk weeds, sharks in a wheat field, an octopus on a Limerick bollard. Nine pieces with animals that turned up in places they have no business being, painted, cut out or stuck on by artists who saw a gap and filled it.

More: Animal Signs That Made Me Smile (10 Photos)

🦈 “Please Do Not Feed the Sharks” — By Anne Melady near Dublin, Ontario, Canada 🇨🇦

The fins are plywood, mounted on brackets so they turn in the wind. Anne Melady got the idea from a field near Erin where two fins made her smile every time she went past. Hers went up in 2021, with a sign by the road to keep visitors polite.

💡 Local Fact: The field sits along Highway 8 in Dublin, about two hours west of Toronto, and in July 2021 blogTO called the display the “great wheat sharks”.

More: Please Do Not Feed the Great Wheat Sharks

🐄 “Just Enough Pasture” — By OakOak

A black-and-white cow lowers its head to the strip of grass at the foot of a wall. On a city sidewalk, that counts as a field.

More: OakOak’s Street Surprises (72 Photos)

🔗 Follow OakOak on Instagram

🐙 “Octopus on a Bollard” — By Lumen Street Theatre in Limerick, Ireland 🇮🇪

One bollard in a row of black ones got eyes and a coat of blue, and its tentacles spread out across the paving. Lumen Street Theatre painted it for a scavenger hunt the group set up in Limerick.

💡 Group Fact: Lumen is a Limerick street theatre company that does parades, shadow plays and youth workshops.

More: Painted Octopus on a Bollard in Limerick, Ireland

📷 Photo: James Gammell

🦒 “Giraffe in the Ivy” — By Golsa Golchini in Milan, Italy 🇮🇹

A giraffe looks out of a gap in a wall of ivy, already chewing on the nearest leaf. In Milan, that is about as close to the savanna as it gets.

💡 Artist Fact: Golchini was born in Iran, lives in Milan and graduated from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in 2010.

More: You Might Walk Past These, But They’re Tiny Masterpieces in Disguise

🔗 Follow Golsa Golchini on Instagram

🐘 “Two Elephants” — By Banksy in Chelsea, London, UK 🇬🇧

Two bricked-up windows, two elephant heads, and trunks that almost meet across the wall. The pair appeared on August 6, 2024, on a house at the corner of Edith Terrace and Edith Grove in Chelsea.

💡 Series Fact: The elephants were the second of nine animals Banksy put up around London over nine days in August 2024, from a goat at Kew Bridge to a gorilla at London Zoo.

More: Banksy’s in London: Unmasking the Zoo of Modern Society (9 Photos)

🔗 Follow Banksy on Instagram

🐘 “Do Not Feed the Elephant” — By OakOak in France 🇫🇷

Only the trunk made it out. A flexible vent pipe hangs from a stained wall, and one hand-lettered sign underneath does the rest of the work.

More: Funny Pipes (18 Photos)

🔗 Follow OakOak on Instagram

🐋 “The Whale” — By Sandrot at La Rochelle Airport, France 🇫🇷

A blue whale swims the full length of a corrugated metal building at the airport, and the person standing beside it looks tiny. Sandrot, the artist Sandra Guilbot, painted it in 2021: 25 meters long and 7 meters high, her largest mural.

More: The Whale – La Rochelle Airport, France

🔗 Follow Sandrot on Instagram

📷 Photo: Olivier Blanchet

🐠 “Le Poisson combattant” — By SWEO and Nikita in Calais, France 🇫🇷

An orange fighting fish swims out of an apartment block, turquoise cubes around it. From the parking lot, it looks close enough to touch. Sébastien Sweo and Marlène Nikita painted it for the 2023 Calais Street Art Festival. Its title is Le Poisson combattant, and it stands on Rue du Commandant Mouchotte in the Beau-Marais district.

💡 Festival Fact: The mural placed fifth in France’s national street art ranking for 2023.

More: 3D Animal Illusions by SWEO & Nikita

🔗 Follow SWEO on Instagram and Nikita on Instagram