A set of animal-themed giant Chinese lanterns, seen by 150,000 visitors to Longleat, are to be sold this week in a live online auction with proceeds going to The Duke of Cambridge’s African wildlife conservation charity Tusk.

Longleat Safari and Adventure Park is to put up to 19 items for auction, all especially made by a team from China as part of the Festival of Light Event which took place over Christmas on the estate near Warminster.

The Festival of Light attracted more than 150,000 visitors and saw thousands of enormous hand crafted illuminated designs, some measuring up to 20 metres in height, transform the estate.

The auction is being run by Addison Gelpey, of BathAuctioneers.com and TV presenter of Channel 5’s ‘Storage: Flog the Lot!’

Bidding is now available online through auction site The-saleroom.com

Fans of the giant lanterns will have the opportunity to bid on 19 different life-sized animal lanterns depicting some of Longleat Safari Park’s famous residents which include a lion, giraffe, rhino, flamingo, camel, zebra and cheetah.

Mr Gelpey said: "This is a fabulous opportunity for anybody who came to see the Festival of Light to own a piece of Longleat.

"I’ve overseen many different collectables in my time but nothing quite as unique and spectacular as this."

Some of the 7,000 lanterns which made up Longleat’s Festival of Light will be retained for the 2015 Christmas event but the decision to auction some of the hand crafted giant lanterns came after requests from visitors to the park.

Longleat chairman Ceawlin Thynn said: "The Festival of Light was such a great success and we’ve been inundated with requests from visitors who came to see the lanterns asking if there can take them off us once the Christmas period finished.

"We plan to have a brand new set of lanterns on display for this year’s festival but we felt it would be a shame to destroy the ones which are not going to be used again."

TUSK is a charity close to our heart which we have been working with for more than 10 years. It only seemed appropriate that proceeds go to this great cause.’

The auction for the 19 different items will run until Wednesday, February 11.

Anybody interested in bidding on the lanterns can have the opportunity to come and look at them in a special viewing day on the front forecourt of Longleat house on Sunday, February 1, between noon and 4pm.

Over the past 25 years Tusk has invested £25m into a successful portfolio of wildlife protection, community development and education programmes, providing lasting benefits to the people and wildlife of Africa. It currently funds over 50 projects across 18 countries.

Under the patronage of Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, Tusk works to protect endangered species and aims to use conservation to help alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development amongst the rural communities which live alongside wildlife.

While investing substantial funds in wildlife security, Tusk also helps to fund the construction of primary and secondary schools, water projects and initiatives that can stimulate employment through nature-based enterprise in remote areas.

As Tusk celebrates its 25th anniversary this year and has launched a £5m appeal.

The charity is also actively aiding international efforts to halt the illegal wildlife trade particularly in ivory and rhino horn, where consumer demand in the Far East has stimulated poaching of elephant, rhino and lion that threatens the survival of these species in the wild.