As humans continue to oppress more and more species through climate change, population growth, and pure greed, one man is attempting to shine a light on those violations and increase the public’s awareness through art. Patrick Cabral, a multidisciplinary artist and art director based out of Manila, Philippines, creates gorgeous intricately layered papercuts in the form of endangered animals.

Elephants are being poached for their ivory and attacked for coming into contact with human settlements and palm oil plantations that have been erected in their natural territories.

Sea turtles are targeted for their shells and eggs, in addition to becoming victim to commercial fishing nets, ocean pollution, and habitat destruction due to ocean acidification and climate change.

Gorillas are hunted for bush meat and constantly face new threats such as illegal mining, the construction of new roads, and other human encroachment activities invade their natural territory.

Panda numbers continue to fall due to rapidly growing and unsustainable human encroachment in the bamboo forests of China’s Yangtze Basin region which they call home.

Polar Bears are struggling to survive as their arctic habitat becomes increasingly polluted by our trash, devastated by our oil drilling activities, and thawed by climate change.

Tigers are frequently poached so that their body parts can be sold on the black market for use in Chinese medicine.

Lions are frequent victims of trophy hunting, the commercial lion bone trade, and poisoning by locals who wish to preserve their livestock.

 

 

Cabral is donating all proceeds from the sale of these paper sculptures to the Philippines chapter of the World Wildlife Fund, which will use the money to help save several of these species.

Share these stunning images to help raise awareness for the plight of these magnificent species. If we fail to recognize the impact we are having on endangered populations, the only way we will be able to see these animals is in the form of papercuts. That’s hardly what these majestic beings deserve.

All image source: Patrick Cabral