Ronnie Wood urges people to look after wildlife before there is ‘nothing' left

South Wales Guardian

4 days ago

The star joined the Tusk Turtle Trail campaign and designed one of the 16 life-sized turtle sculptures to help raise funds and awareness of endangered marine species.
Launched by African wildlife conservation charity Tusk, the installations are positioned at sites across central London including Covent Garden, Carnaby Street and the top of The Shard.
The street art can also be found at St James's Market, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square, with the aim of encouraging passers-by to 'pause, reflect and engage with urgent marine conservation issues'.
Wood, 78, is an ambassador of the charity and helped design one of the sculptures, titled The Prodigal, which is in Carnaby Street.
He told the PA news agency: 'It was great fun to do the turtles.
'It's wonderful. There's a whole brigade of them.
'If we don't look after the animals now, there'll be nothing for our children to see in the future.'
The guitarist added that he hopes the campaign will encourage people to 'appreciate what your surroundings hold and especially the wildlife and the flora and the fauna. You know, look after everything that goes up around us.
'I think the future of Tusk relies on if we can raise enough money with these turtles to keep the whole project going and the whole message going.'
The 16 installations will remain until the end of August before going up for auction in mid-October, with the funds supporting Tusk partners' marine conservation projects.
The charity led similar campaigns between 2018 and 2023 with rhino, lion and gorilla trails.
Other stars who helped design a sculpture for the Tusk Turtle Trail included Irish actor Andrew Scott, Dragons' Den stars Deborah Meaden and Steven Bartlett, artist Hannah Shergold and Fawlty Towers star John Cleese and his wife Jennifer Wade.
Cleese told the PA news agency: 'These people like Tusk are doing a great job.
'We got involved because of my wife.
'She is passionate about photography and all sorts of conservation projects, and we got sucked in. The first thing we did was a lion, and then we did a wonderful gorilla.'
The comedian added that they named their turtle sculpture Teddy after their cat, who died earlier this year.
He said: 'We've christened this little tortoise Teddy to remind us of those happy days.'
Wade said: 'Teddy was a really amazing cat, Maine coon, and he was, like, one in a million. And he's really unique. But with turtles and the conservation we don't want one turtle to be one in a million. We want people to realise that all these turtles need to be saved, and there's species, and there's so many things that people can do to help save them.
'In other words, Teddy's unique to us, but we want all the turtles to be Teddies in the world. That's what we feel.'
Wade said she and Cleese have been supporting the charity for about five years.
She said: 'Tusk is amazing. Also, because it's a smaller conservation, and the people, you feel like it's part of a family, and you feel like you're actually doing some good. We've loved it.'
Nick Bubb, chief executive of Tusk, said: 'Marine turtles have navigated our oceans for over 100 million years, yet six out of seven species are now threatened with extinction. From entanglement in fishing gear to plastic pollution and rising sea levels, human activity has decimated turtle populations across the globe.
'The aim of the Tusk Turtle Trail is to inspire collective action to celebrate and protect one of the most ancient and endangered marine species.'
Bidding for the sculptures will begin on Monday.