A giraffe sculpture made of 500 discarded flip flops collected from Kenyan shores has brought a splash of colour to Douglas.

The two-metre high statue, which aims to make people think about ocean pollution, is currently on display at the Strand Shopping Centre until the end of this week.

It was created by charity Ocean Sole, which estimates that about 700,000 flip flops are found on Kenyan beaches every year.

The charity employs more than 150 Kenyan people to create fun art using the flip flops to remind everyone that the rubbish found in the oceans and waterways are killing humans and marine life. These artworks are on sale globally.

The giraffe has made its way to the island with the support of Standard Bank.

Beach Buddies adopted a similar approach this year. It will create a giant wire frame of a basking shark and has it filled with rubbish found on Manx beaches. This will be displayed in the island’s first Environment Festival in May.

Bill Dale, founder of the charity, said: ’Beach Buddies is all about finding exciting and inventive ways to get more islanders engaged with cleaning up our beaches and educating them on how we can make changes to better protect our environment.’