Paignton goes wild for rhino statues - raising £123,000 at auction

Can you guess how much the best-selling rhino went for? Credit: ITV West Country

Forty life-size painted rhinos which spent the summer on display in a free trail around Devon have now been auctioned off for charity.

The Great Big Rhino Project was organised by Paignton Zoo - they wanted to raise money for rhino conservation work.

Thousands of people spent the summer searching out the original artworks:

Credit: ITV West Country

Now, 39 of them are going to new homes, having raised £123,000 at auction.

Credit: ITV West Country

By far the "best-seller" of the night proved to be Hulk-O-Rhino, painted by Jenny Leonard.

A bidding war broke out, and the sculpture eventually sold for £13,500 - ten times the price of some of the other rhinos.

The surplus from the project will be used by Paignton Zoo to support Javan and Sumatran rhino conservation via Save the Rhino International.