Chip’s Cape Gannet sculpture – made from driftwood, found objects from along the coastline, and steel – was commissioned by the PTWC as a symbol for the biodiversity and species they fight to protect along the West Coast.
Cape Peninsula, South Africa (04 December 2025) – Kommetjie artist Chip Snaddon makes intriguing public art that expresses joy and amazement for the natural world. He has long been an advocate for environmental awareness and conservation.
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This made his hands just the right pair for a recent commission by non-profit organisation Protect the West Coast (PTWC) to create a symbol of the threatened and endangered fauna and flora of the West Coast that the non-profit works so hard to protect.
Running for five years now, the group was started by concerned citizens who wanted to put a stop to the illegal and destructive mining activities along their coast. They’ve done incredible work in protecting biodiversity in areas like the beaches around the Olifants River Mouth, where, just two years ago, the organisation reached an out-of-court settlement with a major diamond mining company not to mine around the area.
Work like this protects biodiversity, but it also curbs habitat loss for vulnerable species, like the Cape Gannet.
“The numbers of Cape Gannet and scores of other species of fauna and flora are declining rapidly thanks to unfettered coastal mining, oil and gas exploration, overfishing and urban development on the West Coast and elsewhere.” shares the PTWC.
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The Cape Gannet sadly faces a decreasing population.
“The Cape Gannet is an iconic seabird loved by the Western Cape fishing community because of the way it represents pelagic fisheries – it is fondly revered for the way it fires itself like a projectile into the ocean to hunt shoals of bait fish. Flocks of Cape Gannet follow the bait balls of the Sardine Run all the way up the East Coast in winter before returning to the Western Cape.” shares the PTWC.
And so, the Cape Gannet became the perfect symbol for Sanddon’s commission. Chip brought the incredible Koos Malgas to life in a five metre high sculpture using steel, driftwood and found objects from the nearby coastline.
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Koos got his name from the memory of a late labourer of the same namesake, who constructed the famous Owl House sculptures under the direction of artist Helen Martins over fifty to eighty years ago.
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Koos has spent the first few weeks of life at Bird Island in Kommetjie, where he was on show at the Kommetjie Festival. Soon, he will be moved to an appropriate permanent location on the West Coast.
He stands not just as a symbol of the threats facing the West Coast, but also as one of the success PTWC has achieved in protecting pristine biodiversity areas.
If you’d like to support the work that PTWC does, one way to do so is by purchasing their merch for your Christmas stocking fillers! All proceeds help to fund the work they do to safeguard our precious wild spaces from permanent devastation.
“Do it for Koos.” shares the PTWC.
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