- Rufus’ job is to keep pigeons away from the Championships during competition
- He also works at Lord’s cricket ground, the Old Bailey and Westminster Abbey
- The hawk has, though, reportedly refused to mate on more than one occasion
Wimbledon has seemingly been hit by a left-field crisis because their iconic hawk, named Rufus, is refusing to breed.
The bird has patrolled the grounds of the All England Club for 17 years, with the sole job of keeping it pigeon free while the players take to the grass for two weeks a year.
As he gets older, though, succession planning is starting to be put into place, with SW19 bosses so impressed by Rufus’ work that they want his own offspring to replace him when he is unable to carry out his job any longer.
That has led to a hunt for a mate for the bird, with his handler, Donna, failing to persuade Rufus to mate with another bird named Pamela.
It wasn’t the first attempt at attempting to persuade the bird to mate, with Rufus having no offspring to take over – at least as of yet.
Questions over his sexuality have been raised, with Donna insisting that she could try and persuade him to mate again in the future.
The 58-year-old said, via The Telegraph: ‘They didn’t hit it off. Pamela was quite aggressive. It wasn’t love at first sight. But maybe we can try breeding with him again in the future.’
Asked if he could be gay, she added: ‘There’s every possibility. I don’t think it’s that unusual [among birds].’
Rufus also works at Westminster Abbey, the Old Bailey and Lord’s cricket ground, and has been patrolling Wimbledon since he was just 16 weeks old.
He was raised in Brigstock, Northamptonshire, and is regularly seen scaring away pigeons – employed after humans had struggled to do so.
‘Initially the whole reason we were here was because [Pete] Sampras was having to bat pigeons off the baseline,’ Donna said. ‘I was thinking, “I’m going to have to give them a call and help them out”.
‘You can’t be anthropomorphic about it but I believe he sees me as one of his pack.
‘I’m his food source, so of course I’m one of his pack. I do feel as though in areas where we’ve been out in fields and crows have bombarded me, he’s come in to get the crows.
‘So he is very protective of me but that’s because I’m his food source, not because he loves me.’
