Community wildlife mural vandalised by tagger

The mural was commissioned in August 2024

A "stunning" wildlife mural created by local residents has been vandalised by what is thought to be a tagger.

In August 2024, Warwickshire Wildlife Trust commissioned local artist Michael Batchelor to work with residents to create the mural under the brook bridge near Winslow Close in Eastern Green, Coventry.

On 22 July, what was once an image of ducks among flowers and greenery, was covered in black paint with the words "pusher" written across the area in capital letters.

Jordan Davies from the trust said he felt "equally disappointed and surprised" at the loss of the community artwork but says the trust would look at options to bring back the mural.

"We would absolutely love to see a scenario where we can recreate the mural and give it back to a local community where it was so loved.

"We can't make any promises but we're looking into it and we'd absolutely love to do something with the mural and see what we can do to put this right," he said.

The new graffiti also read 'I'm always pushing' at the entrance to the underpass, along with an Instagram tag @pusherglobal in the top right, and a video of someone running alongside it posted to the account.

The wildlife mural was painted over with the word pusher on 22 July

On Facebook, councillor Jayne Innes described the damaging of the mural as "a wanton act of vandalism" and encouraged anyone with information to contact the police on 101 or her directly.

"On Tuesday a wanton piece of vandalism destroyed most of the mural. The police are investigating this as criminal damage

"The stunning mural was much loved by residents - adults and children alike," her post read.

Mr Davies said the loss of the mural was a blow to the community.

"We all equally felt disappointed and surprised for the loss of our community mural, which was a lovely nature mural.

"We're all quite saddened to see a sudden change to it," he said.