Saturday night, Giant motion pictures of endangered animals were projected on the Empire State Building in New York. This spectacle was the first of its kind to raise public awareness about the risk of their extinction.
The projection was on the south facade of the famous skyscraper and was 114 meters high and 56 meters wide, covering 33 floors, and was visible for up to 20 blocks from the south.
The image of Cecil lion that was killed by an American dentist in Zimbabwe, also appeared in the midst of many animals including a snow leopard, a golden tamarin lion, a manta (large skate species), birds, marine mammals, insects, and even the shadow of King Kong climbing to the top of the front.
The eight-minute session, with music and lighting effects, was repeated every fifteen minutes from 9:00 p.m. to 0:00 (1:00 to 4:00 GMT Sunday).
Forty 20,000 lumen projectors were used for this projection, placed on the roof of a nearby building on 31st Street.
The project, born four years ago, was the idea of the director and founder of the Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS), Louie Psihoyos, whose film “The Cove” (“The Bay of Shame”), on the annual slaughter of thousands of dolphins in Japan in 2010 had received the Oscar for best documentary.
“He wanted the most iconic building, and for him it was the Empire State Building”, as AFP was told by the producer of “The Cove”, Fisher Stevens, adding that the goal was to raise awareness about these endangered species and “start a conversation” to avoid “the sixth mass extinction of the earth.”
The Empire State Building, had once been already lit the top red in 2011, referring to the massacre denounced by “The Cove”.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VADi5ObFMXE[/youtube]
We are really touched by this efforts to save the endangered animals and we hope that more is done to save them.