Mum loses battle to keep massive gorilla on front of her home

Mum loses battle to keep massive gorilla on front of her home Adele Teale, 59, was forced to remove a 4kg model gorilla from outside her home after losing a battle with her local council over planning permission - she has now revealed the ape's new residence A defiant mum has lost a battle with her local council to keep her beloved four-foot-tall gorilla landmark on the front of her house. Adele Teale, 59, was ordered last month by Wakefield Council to remove the 4kg resin figure from outside her two-bedroom terraced home within four weeks - or face a £20,000 fine. After an unsuccessful appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, she has finally removed the ape - which she called Caesar - to comply with the enforcement notice. The mum-of-one, from Stanley, Wakefield, has now revealed that Caesar will soon find a new home inside a shop in Mayfair. He will be put on display inside a large store indefinitely, she said, adding: "I can't believe all this fuss has been made over a plastic gorilla. "Caesar is a landmark for the area, I was gutted to have to take him down. I feel better for doing so as the whole thing with the council has caused me a lot of stress. "I love gorillas, I think they're amazing and Caesar makes me smile - he makes me happy." Adele said Caesar sat outside her previous home in Belle Isle, Leeds, for 15 years without an issue, before she sold him when she moved Wakefield six years ago. She bought him back for £600 two years later, and nailed him to a wooden plinth between the two upstairs windows of her two bedroom terraced house. But on May 27, 2025, Adele received a letter from Wakefield Council Planning Services warning that Caesar was "out-of-character with the surrounding area" An enforcement notice was then handed to Adele on July 10 2025 ordering her to remove Caesar, which she appealed a month later. Adele was told over email on May 12 this year that the Planning Inspectorate refused her appeal, and that the gorilla would require planning permission under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. The planning officer ruled that Caesar "constitutes" a "development" due to its "size, degree of permanence, and physical attachment" to her property. Joe Jenkinson, Wakefield Council’s Service Director for Planning, Transportation and Strategic Highways, previously said: “We appreciate that not everyone will agree, but under planning rules this is not classed as a minor decorative feature. "It’s also out of character with the surrounding area. So, it requires planning permission."