Hugo memorial unveiled thanks to local art student

Folly Farm in Pembrokeshire has unveiled a very special memorial statue at its ‘Pride of Pembrokeshire’ zoo exhibit, to remember its male lion Hugo who passed away in 2025.

The stunning new life-size bronze bust of Hugo was created by Coleg Sir Gar’s art student Katie Morrissey, who hails from Rhondda Cynon Taf. Katie had never worked with clay or bronze on such a scale up until now – and is thrilled to have her artwork on display at the award-winning attraction, for its guests and staff to enjoy for years to come.

The Folly Farm team were keen to commission a lasting tribute to Hugo and approached Coleg Sir Gar’s Arts School in Carmarthen, to see what would be possible. Folly Farm met with Lee Odishow (‘Dish’), Fine Art Tutor and Technician at the college, and Lisa Phillips, Programme Director of Fine Art Practice to discuss the plans, and they were equally as enthusiastic to collaborate on such a unique opportunity for their students – and to showcase the fantastic facilities that are available in the art school.

Lee enthused; “This live project fell serendipitously within our schedule and coincided with the 2nd year Studio Skills brief. During this module we typically cover varied techniques used within art, and Hugo’s portrait was a fantastic opportunity to work on so many aspects including: approaching a commission, client relations, mapping, working to scale, proportion, armature building, clay application and modelling, and working to a set brief”.

Eight students spent many weeks creating clay models of the handsome lion, but there could be only one winner who would have their project continue to completion and zookeeper Dan Sutton, who worked closely with Hugo for many years, selected Katie as the overall winner.

Katie, her fellow art students and tutors, as well as their family and friends were invited to the unveiling of the statue set in Folly Farm Zoo’s African lion exhibit, next to where Hugo’s family still reside. Katie then received a cheque from Folly Farm’s managing director Chris Ebsworth for her prize-winning sculpture.

Katie was also able to join Zookeeper Dan on a special behind the scenes tour of the lion house and meet the pride including Hugo’s mate Luna, and their four daughters, Sola, Ebele, Alika and Zahra, before everyone enjoyed some lion cupcakes provided by Sandie Jones aka ‘The Cake Fairy Pembs’.