Portuguese artist Artur Bordalo’s (aka Bordalo II) creates artwork from junk, but that doesn’t make it any less cute! He uses only junk to bring these animals to life, each of them a larger-than-life version of their biological versions.

Each statue carries with it a powerful message, because each animal is built from materials responsible for its decline. Bordalo II wants to raise awareness on the problems associated with waste materials and pollution: they are affecting wildlife, and by not recycling or reusing materials, we are using and wasting more and more resources, destroying more and more animal habitats.

If you look at how intricate the art is, it’s just amazing that he was able to create all this with scrap pieces. Garbage cans, burnt pieces of metal, tires, endless types of spare parts, everything blends together so perfectly together – the innocent animals, and the signs of society’s waste. Collected here are several pieces from the last few months, but also some of his older work (below).

Awesome street art, a powerful message, and raising social awareness. What more could we want? Well, I’d want people to actually heed his warning. We’ve grown too wasteful, and lost our respect for the resources we use, and the ones we’re hurting to use them.

All images via Earthporm. For more pictures, check Bordalo’s Facebook Page.