Your eyes are not deceiving you. There really is an ape wandering the streets of downtown Toronto.
This is a female ape, as you can tell from the bow in her hair and bead necklaces around her neck, and she's pushing a small blue stroller with white polka dots.
She looks around, as though she's lost something of great value.
A small poster she's holding says "Lost: Great Ape" in large black letters, above a photo of an adorable baby bonobo ape. There's a description of the baby and the mama ape's contact information, should anyone find her offspring.
Of course, this is not a real ape but an actor in an ape costume, part of an imaginative alternative media stunt last month by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).
The WSPA wanted to call attention to the plight of the bonobo, a breed of chimpanzee, which the group claims is near extinction due to the effects of the bushmeat trade, the hunting of wild animals in west and central Africa.
In the first phase of the stunt, "Lost" posters were put up all over the city. The idea was to convey the sense of loss over the potential extinction of the bonobo.
"When you walk around the parks, you often see ‘Lost Dog’ or ‘Lost Cat’ posters, and people often stop to read them," says Alex Tom, director of development and marketing for WSPA.
The second part of the stunt was sending out the ape. On June 29, June 30 and July 1, the ape roamed downtown Toronto between the hours of 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
The ape pushed the empty baby stroller through the streets and used body language to convey her dismay when passersby stopped her.
"While walking around downtown Toronto with an empty baby stroller, the ape is subtly and delicately conveying to passerby that she has lost her baby and urgently needs your help to find her," Tom says.
The stunt worked because the sight of an ape in an urban area is so unexpected it provokes a real curiosity factor. By providing a clear connection between the "lost" ape and the dwindling species, the WSPA got its point across quickly.
"I really think we were successful in drawing attention to the needless suffering endured by animals around the world," Tom says. The campaign was also inexpensive.
"Once we tabulate the results and find that this campaign is worth spending hard-earned donor dollars, we will expand this campaign to other cities in Canada."
