By Johnathan Graves
Buffalo, NY – The Buffalo Zoo previewed its Art Gone Wild fundraiser Wednesday with an art demonstration from Surapa, one of the zoo's elephants.
Nearly every animal in the zoo participated in painting a piece for Thursday night's event at the Pearl Street Grill. Kelly Amrhein, the zoo's lead elephant and rhino keeper, says Surapa enjoys painting.
"We did try with all the elephants when we started painting. The other two didn't take to it. But Surapa did. She liked it," Amrhein said. "She's motivated by food. So, she gets a treat."
Nearly 10,000 copies of Surapa's paintings have been sold through the years.
Amrhein says that Art Gone Wild is different than other benefits because all proceeds are used for the care of the animals instead of going into the zoo's general fund.