Andy Murray has named a dog after his fiancee Kim Sears.
And while some might not take kindly to having a pooch named in their honour, this one’s a bit different – it’s a sniffer dog helping to tackle poaching and the illegal wildlife trade in Nepal.
British number one Murray sponsors one such dog, which was named in his honour last year, and when he was given the chance to choose a name for the mutt’s companion, he went for Sears.
Global Ambassador @andy_murray names companion of his sniffer dog 'Sears' in honour of his fiancée. #EndWildlifeCrime pic.twitter.com/19IGTa86LS
— WWF UK (@wwf_uk) March 19, 2015
Murray and Sears – the dogs, not the people – now live and work together in Chitwan National Park with their handlers.
Murray the human, who was raised in Dunblane near Stirling, is a WWF global ambassador and has been supporting WWF’s fight against poaching and illegal wildlife trade since November 2014.
He said: “I’m delighted to have the opportunity to name the companion of my namesake dog.
“Dogs love companionship and I hope this partnership will aid them as they work to tackle poaching in Nepal.
“March is an important month in the fight against poaching with the Botswana government hosting an international conference on illegal wildlife trade so it’s great to be involved in WWF’s initiative during this pivotal moment.”
The two dogs have been through training together in India, where they learned to sniff out evidence of poaching and track routes used by poachers.
Heather Sohl, chief species adviser at WWF-UK, said: “Andy naming the companion of his sponsored sniffer dog after his fiancee is testament to Andy’s interest in this issue.
“We’re delighted that we can work with Andy to tackle wildlife crime ahead of the Kasane conference on illegal wildlife trade on 25 March 2015.”
Source: SNAPPA
