Usually it’s people who raise money for charity, but this unlikely little furry creature is pulling in thousands of donations.
8-month-old Bandit the pet ferret ran a full 26.2 mile marathon with his family to help raise money for the London’ Children’s Book Project and the At The Bus art charity.
These organizations use the donations to hand out bundles of books and creative resources to thousands of young people in the Oxfordshire area.
“Children in disadvantaged areas are being badly hit [by the pandemic] as they can’t go to school and haven’t got the devices to learn online. We need to get these bundles to kids who wouldn’t otherwise be able to access books.” – Jim Wood
The Wood family aimed to raise £1,000 ($1,200 USD) on a Just Giving campaign, but with the help of their adorable pet, ended up raising £2,300 ($2,800 USD).
That’s more than 200 percent of their goal!
Their impressive donation will provide an estimated 12,000 books to low-income households.
The London Marathon was cancelled this year due to the coronavirus, so many runners took part in the “2.6 Challenge” instead – running 2.6 miles for charity. The Woods had originally planned just to do the 2.6, but Bandit was loving his daily runs so they decided to do the full marathon instead!
Little Bandit used his tiny legs to keep up and ran along with his family until they completed all 23 miles.
But they didn’t run the marathon all at once. Jim and Arabella Wood and their two daughters walked several miles every day for two and a half weeks.
With the star of the show, little Bandit, on a leash at their side, of course!
A marathon usually takes about four to five hours for the average runner to complete if going non-stop, but the fastest marathon runners complete them in closer to two hours. But that requires a lot of vigorous training.
Even running a slower marathon requires a lot of preparation or runners risk hurting themselves.
Ferrets are very high energy and require a lot of play, interaction, and exercise.
They’re quick little things and love to run around!
It’s recommended that pet ferrets get at least 2-4 hours outside of their cages. We can be sure little Bandit is getting more than enough exercise to stay healthy!
He’s tired after a long day of running.
Ferrets are not the most common or popular pet. Those long bodies and little legs are cute, and they’re very affectionate but they’re known for being a little smellier than the average house pet.
And because biting is how they play with each other, it’s common for them to bite humans too, but sometimes take it a little too far! Pet Helpful warns potential ferret owners that there will be some bites, and possibly some bleeding.
But they are adorable, that’s for sure!
For the right owner, and with some dedicated training, they can be the perfect furry friend.
They’re quite clever and are relatively easy to train, and can even do things like learn to use the litter box.
And ambitious ferrets like bandits can even complete a marathon. That’s not something every human can say, let alone a ferret!
“It’s good to be doing something to help which also makes people smile. Our concern is that Bandit will think this is ‘the new normal’ and we will have to carry on doing this every day.” – Jim Wood
Kudos to Bandit and the Wood family for the work they’re doing for charity!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
