A Champion Among Champions
Tennis star Andy Murray advanced to the quarter finals earlier this week at Wimbledon. In 2013, he won the men’s singles Championship at Wimbledon. Regardless of how he finishes up this year, he is a champion in our hearts. Besides being an incredibly talented tennis player, he is also a passionate animal advocate. Andy was recently named the global ambassador for the World Wildlife Fund – one of the worlds leading conservation organizations dedicated to protecting and saving animals. Together they help fight poaching and the illegal wildlife trade.
Andy Supports Sniffer Dogs
One of the tools in combating illegal wildlife contraband are sniffer dogs. Thanks to their highly keen sense of smell, these dogs help custom officials effectively scan luggage and cargo and they can help wildlife rangers in the field with discovering and deterring poachers. Andy has become involved with WWF’s Sniffer Dog initiative in Nepal, which supports the training of these dogs. Specifically, he has supported the training of two Belgian Shepherd dogs, named Murray and Sears. They are trained through positive reinforcement techniques and rewarded with treats and playtime, which increases their enthusiasm and commitment to finding more contraband. Andy is quoted on the WWF website as saying, “Sniffer dogs do an incredible job whether it’s keeping us safe and secure here at Wimbledon, or fighting wildlife crime in Nepal. WWF’s conservation work supports these dedicated and talented animals and trainers to help protect some of the most iconic, yet threatened, species on our planet. I’m really hoping that whilst I battle it out on the court this summer – people will join the battle to help fight the global problem of wildlife crime.”
The following brief film was launched by Andy Murray, WWF and the Championships, Wimbledon to help drive awareness about the important role that sniffer dogs provide in helping to protect people as well as animals.
Police sniffer dogs, like the one in the video below, was used to search for potential explosives during security checks at Wimbledon’s Centre Court.
https://youtu.be/5j-MB-Yi6sY
Andy’s Love of Dogs
No doubt Andy loves dogs. He has two Border Terriers – Rusty and Maggie May. Andy has fun posting photos of the dogs and tweeting about them through social media. Maggie May even has her own Twitter account with over 27,000+ followers. In 2013, Andy posted a photo of the two dogs in a friendly game of tug-of-war of a sock. It quickly went viral with over 10,000 likes on Facebook.
Join Andy’s Fight To Stop Wildlife Crime
If you would like to learn more and donate to these special cause at www.wwf.org.uk/donate/andy
Help spread the word and join the conversation with #GoWildForAndy and #GoWildForWimbledon
