A Hungarian circus elephant has raised 40,000 HUF for charity by auctioning off her own original paintings.
The 42-year-old Indian elephant named Sandra, part of the Florian Richter Circus, is becoming artistically renowned for her bright coloured abstract works.
Florian Richter, the circus director and Sandra’s trainer, said the elephant paints on her own and for pleasure, using her trunk to move the brush, according to The Calvert Journal.
“I only help her with changing the brushes and putting them into paints but she does the rest by herself more or less. I praise her by saying ‘oh this is really good, or not so good," Richter told the Reuters news agency. “We have been together for 40 years so this is a family connection.”
A painting of Sandra, drawn by a Hungarian artist, was sold at the same event for for 260,000 HUF. All the proceeds from the event will go to help elephants at a sanctuary in Malaysia.