After a week of ups, downs and tension at Wimbledon, everyone was pleased to hear that Rufus the Hawk was safe and sound. Oh and that Andy Murray was through to the second week.
The pigeon-scaring bird from the home of tennis was stolen from the back of his owner’s car, but luckily three days later he was found safe and ready to perform his important role of keeping any airborne pests away from the All England Club, as reported on BBC News.
Rufus isn’t the only bird-scaring superstar though; cue south coast-based Felix the Falcon. Felix is no stranger to fame, having received national coverage on TALKSPORT when he was made a member of Skandia Team GBR last year.
The multi-talented falcon who is employed to scare away the seagulls at the national sailing centre even filmed and starred in his own video diary – What Felix Sees – giving fans a great bird’s eye view of some of the surprising antics of the sailors while they’re off the water, going where no human eye could.
Felix didn’t let fame go to his head though, continuing his hard work in the quest for Gold and was duly chosen to represent Skandia Team GBR at the recent Skandia Sail for Gold regatta in Weymouth.
Rufus and Felix may be the latest animals to grab the sporting headlines, but they’re far from the first. Two years ago it was Paul the Octopus who was making a name for himself at World Cup 2010, correctly predicting all eight of Germany’s results.
Euro 2012 marked an opportunity for the young pretenders of the animal kingdom to step up and challenge the great Paul’s predictions. There was an elephant from Poland and a Sea Lion from Bangkok, as well as a pig and a ferret, but all failed to reach the dizzy heights of fame set by Felix, Rufus and Paul.
Shame, one more and they might have made a good band…
