Fifty artificial elephants will "stroll along" Rotterdam city centre for about 10 weeks starting September 1st. The objects will mark places in town like Coolsingel, Westersingel, "Koopgoot", WTC and hotel New York. Each elephant is designed by an artist and sponsored by Rotterdam companies such as Bijenkorf and Spido. The Bijenkorf will sell miniatures of the elephants and there will also be an auction in the Rotterdam Zoo Blijdorp.

With this first "Elephant Parade" - to support the world’s first elephant hospital, in Thailand -  Rotterdam has a real scoop. The parade will get an international character, because cities like Antwerp, Nice, Tokio and Berlin are interested too.

The Elephant pictured is ‘adopted’ by a manufacturer of eyeglass lenses with sun-activated tints. The company, Transitions Optical, aims to raise awareness of the danger of exposing your eyes to UV-rays unprotected